Tales of Finality: Memories
by Sizdothyx
Summary: An aloof mercenary, a barwoman and a cowboy enter Shinra's skyscraper. Not a joke, but the beginning to an epic saga of love, hate, and dying worlds. -FF7 storyline, FF8 characters & plot twists-
1. Avalanche

**Introduction: **Of all the people around, I am (perhaps) one of the least suited to undertake such a project; I mean, combining Final Fantasy 7's storyline with Final Fantasy 8's characters? To be honest, I think that in order to wrap the story up – ever – is going to take some good years of my life. Square's greatest games (in the general belief) combined.

It's almost too good to be true, isn't it?

I have to admit I'm practically scared of doing this. It's gigantic, not only as work; by writing this story I am practically going to novelize FF7. But I have something good to push me forward; envy. I mean, by doing this, I could do something that two of the best Final Fantasy writers have approached and, yet, not wrapped up. I can understand it, really, with Daz Shier having dropped his writing hobbies and Peptuck focusing on his other – great – stories. Yet, I don't do this as an attempt to overshadow their work (I can't, even if I wanted to), or take attention off of them (again, futile attempts). Especially not with more words than actions. This can be seen as some sort of tribute and personal affair. I _want_ to do this. I _want _to write such an epic story.

There is not much else to say, I'm afraid. I just want to write this, _make it happen_, you know? Sure, sounds ambitious, even pompous, but then again… People write in order to be read, right?

* * *

_Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or Final Fantasy 8. The original idea of 'transferring' characters of own game to the other originally belongs to Daz Shier and Peptuck. Rights to use this idea have been given. Meaning, don't get on my back, if you may._

* * *

The Planet, compared to what humanity calls the universe, is merely a nuisance. A necessity. An addition to an already heavy complex of countless rocks showered with flora and fauna. Yet, the Planet is a strange world of science and everyday miracles. Not a soul is actually known to be aware of all the Planet's secrets, yet not a single day passes that people look up and wonder what there is beyond, or what it was that caused a chain of events that brought the Planet to what it is or even _why _it is. Generic questions that serve no purposes than help people ponder of what if and how come and why.

Generic questions with no easy answers tend to agitate. Thus, people record; record and then listen to what has been recorded and try to make sense of every fine detail and every little pebble that falls in the river, hoping to change its flow.

Confused? I know you are.

Perhaps confusion was what made people such as Herodotus sit down and _write. _Record. Call it what you will, it still happened. Perhaps, just perhaps, it was not confusion as to the actual facts, but the need to tell a story; to tell a story as it was… Or how it could have been.

Where was I? Ah, the Planet. For all its beauty compared to the other barren rocks flying endlessly around a star, the Planet sure does have quite a story. The first sentient population that inhabited the Planet disappeared two thousand years ago, leaving behind mere traces of a civilization called Cetra.

Cetra… People from an other world that drifted into space. That is why we can guess that in their own strange language Cetra could mean "from beyond the stars". Of course, it could still mean "Kick me" or "Hey man, what's up with the outfit", but that would be ridiculous and not too wise.

Now, now, don't take that look, kind reader. After all, the story that is about to be unfolded has not yet started. A drama like no else is about to begin, and all that is to blame is the afore-mentioned pebble actually being able to change the river's flow. Now sit back and allow me to continue.

The Cetra disappeared from the face of the Planet for reasons unknown two thousand years ago. In those years from then to now a new race emerged, known as humanity. Curious creatures, they managed not to get extinct and continue living till now; somewhere in between they managed to develop tremendous cities and discovered new means of energy. Energy dubbed as Mako.

Much like the Promethean fire, Mako is something quite potent in right and wrong hands likewise; that is the reason a new arc in the Planet's life is about to be written. That is the reason higher forces are shifting to take a closer look, much like you are right now.

If only you could be less of a spectator and more of a meddler. But, like me, reader, you are a spectator. Thus, all I can do is bid you farewell, and hope that you at least salvage some joyful hours from this story you are about to witness…

* * *

_**Crossing Over**_

_By Sizdothyx_

* * *

The metropolis of Midgar was spreading vastly on the face of the planet, feasting on its soil like a festering wound. Despite its ugliness and metallic tentacles tearing perfect nature apart in all their basking glory, Midgar's citizens considered it to be the world's only miracle. Perhaps they should have made a double take before they even placed that thought in their subconscious mind, for life and its beauty is the only miracle there is, but as a really important figure once said: "Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

Midgar was divided in sections; sections that were lit by lamps, blazing neon lights and dim red ones that were synonyms to pleasure. The blocks of flats and big time-small time industries illuminated the streets, preventing the blackness of the night from consuming them, and the capital shook with noise with every passing second. The inhabitants of the 'glorious' city roamed up and down either doing their earnest jobs, like the occasional office worker, or spending their lives doing nothing. Cars sped, carrying their passengers around, spreading their fumes in quantities greater than even the much needed oxygen.

Midgar reached up toward the sky, the corpse of a long dead God, rotting with fumes and smog from the eight power plants that decorated the city's walls, much like guard towers to a castle. Midgar housed the headquarters of Shinra Inc., the international corporation that governed over the world's market entirely. Wether it was weapons, the precious fuel Mako, or money and economics in general, Shinra Inc. ruled with an iron fist policy. It was not just market for the corporal colossus though; Shinra Inc. was also directly involved with politics, whether Midgar's or a smaller town's made no difference. President Shinra, the man who had brought his company on the top of the world could not care less.

All in all, Midgar was the perfect way to express Shinra Inc.; The incarnation of man turning upon man, walking on corpses and using the living as canon fodder. The city's existence was a plague, since the power plants drained nature's power and turned it into energy for their own twisted purposes.

Midgar. The largest city turned prison to men's hopes and dreams. The city of Miracles.

* * *

_Cold._ She thought, cursing the dark street from which she chose to pass through. It was not the clichéd fact of how dangerous such a street was and how she had no business being there that bothered her; it was that it was so damn cold during nightfall. No matter. She clutched her basket, one full with flowers, closer to her chest. She needed to sell a good amount of those, if not for the necessity of doing so, then to fulfill her own standards.

She finally saw the busy streets of Sector Two unfolding just thirty feet away from her. Perhaps the eagerness to sell her beautiful flowers, coupled with the comfort of being around people, would make her forget of the things that plagued her. _But first, to warm up_.

She kneeled next to one of the public fireplaces that the Shinra Company had strategically built in various parts of the city, parts like the one she was at currently. Despite the fact that they were deep in springtime, the lack of the sun's light made the city of Midgar unnaturally cold.

"Much better." She grinned cozily, warmth enveloping her, all-surrounding and beautiful. The Mako-fueled fireplaces might have been sparse, but no one could deny their being useful. She stood there for five good minutes, allowing the affection of the fire to reside and got up, taking a deep breath as she did so.

"Hyne," she whispered as she dropped her gaze at the busy street in front of her, "let it all go well."

She took a deep breath and walked forward, blending with the crowd of Sector Two, perhaps the most civil and least rotten part of the – somewhat – proud city of Midgar.

* * *

Hitting the breaks of a train equaled a lot of hissing noises along with the arrival of the afore-mentioned train to its destination.

The blue suited guard looked up from his booth and yawned, happy that his helmet covered him. In his opinion, getting paid to sleep was the best thing that had happened to him, but, admittedly, it would do him no good if a superior officer caught him while on his 'zzz' time. He chuckled at the insider joke he shared with the guys back at sector Six during their pub time before getting up from his seat and joining the other three guards on the occurring shift change.

He nodded at his peers as they waited for the train doors to open. Soon he'd be home so that he could go to his pillow and…

The pleasant daydreaming of his was cut off by the train's side door's forceful opening to reveal a brown-clad figure casually aiming a powerful, solid-looking double-barreled shotgun at his face.

A push of the trigger and the man's dreams of sleep were shattered alongside his helmet and cranium and splattered on his comrades in the form of brain matter. The guards, surprised, turned their attention to where used to be a head before the body collapsed like a puppet with cut strings. They returned their gaze to the attacker in a drunken stupor, their brains denying that the sticky substance on them used to be human, and took in the man's image.

Black fingerless gloves adorned the man's hands. A black cowboy hat sat proudly on his head, from which hung a long, loose ponytail of brown color and same colored hair of shorter length which framed his face. A large, brown trench coat went with his equally colored pants and boots, and a blue t-shirt fell down his torso beneath the coat, decorating his body with a different color. One of his hands always directing the shotgun at the guards, the other tipped the cowboy hat upwards twice, perhaps in recognition of the decapitation event. Thus, a smooth nose, an almost childish grin and large blue eyes were revealed. "Hiya, fellas." He greeted casually from inside the cabin where he still stood, and that seemed to spurn the guards into motion.

The left foremost guard stood still, his right hand racing to grab his handgun. The cowboy's hand raced him with tremendous ease, his experienced fingers pressing on the trigger accurately before the poor man could even upholster his weapon. He gasped as the speeding pellets entered his body, shredding delicate tissues and heart muscle, effectively killing him on the spot. With a gasp, the guard fell to the ground, never to rise again.

The second guard was the one with the most combat prowess. However, as his defense class tutor had told him, "In actual combat you must spend each second with precision. You can't be a sitting duck for no reason and for no one!" So it could be mathematically calculated that as he still stood there doing nothing, he would easily get shot. Indeed, as the cowboy whirled on his heel, the shotgun's empty shells being discarded for two new ones as deadly as their predecessors, he knew he was done for. All he could do was witness the strange man as he rose again, surged his weapon forward and pressed the trigger twice. The first shot got him in the groin, the force somehow pulling his lower regions backwards, and the rest of his body following suit. The cowboy was merciful enough to spend his next shot on him as well, so as the guard felt gravity losing its grip on him and sending him airborne, a shotgun blast to the head crashed him to oblivion and onto the floor, nothing more than a pitiful corpse.

The third guard had had enough by the time his first ally had fallen. Dangerous amounts of adrenaline pumping through his system, he ran as far away from both the train station and the gunman as he could; three solid meters.

There was a sound of clipping, like scissors cutting through air, and the guard fell on the floor, gasping on the impact. There was a second attacker! _Run!_ His mind ordered him, and he in turn ordered all four of his limbs to do so as well, to no avail. He couldn't feel his legs. Panic now screaming at high octaves inside him, he turned back to see… and gasped in horror.

He was clearly cut in half, his blood and intestines sprayed on the floor like some sort of twisted cake from hell. In his mad dash away from the gunman, he had failed to see the dark figure which jumped from the train's top at him. A dark figure that held some sort of a long blade. A long blade which stilled dripped blood. His _own _blood. Failing to produce a scream, he saw that the figure had left him for dead anyway; in haze somehow similar to being high, he raised his gloved hand to his helmet, where resided a built-in radio, and managed to do one last thing.

"Backup." He managed to wheeze. "Call backup."

The figure turned, instantly detecting the distressed voice's owner, and used his 'long blade' to attack the guard once again, this time making sure that the poor bastard was dead. He rose from where he had thrust his weapon, and turned to look at the gunman, who had left his gaze fall on the swordsman under a raised eyebrow. "Not bad." The shooter called, and the man nodded in response.

The second attacker had dark blue eyes that seemed to be locked up in a constant furious look and long disheveled brown hair that fell around his head, a few lone locks falling next to his eyes. His face was thin from age, and his attire resembled his seventeen years. He wore a short black sleeveless jacket with white comfortable fur around the shoulders and neckline, which allowed his battle scarred arms and front torso to show. Underneath he wore a white muscle shirt, and below followed black cargo pants and a trio of red belts, two of which were crossed above his groin. Gloves and steel-toed boots consisting of black leather were on his hands and feet. His 'long blade', as it was recognized by the guard, was in fact a rare melee weapon called the Gunblade.

The Gunblades were somewhat of an experiment of Shinra Inc., since they were a bizarre (yet working), exotic amalgam of a revolver and a sword. Two and a half feet long, it caught up with the damage other, longer blades caused due to an ingenious technique using actual 'bullets' which charged the blade with kinetic energy; once charged, a Gunblade was powerful enough to cut through a concrete wall with but one swing of the weapon. There were various models of the alien 'sword', and the man was happy enough to possess the first one to be published – a version worth of being called 'the Revolver'. Its handle resembled, obviously, a magnum-type handgun, while the rest of it was a steel blade. On it was inscribed the visage of a crouching lion before the attack, and from the end of its handle hung a chain, where one could see a crafted lion's head. The same one the figure had hanging from his neck as some sort of medallion.

"No time for praising, there's more on the way. Go on, I'll cover you." Said the Gunblade wielder, and the gunman grinned with a personal joke.

"You got that right. Zone, Watts, Xu, let's go!"

At his call, three more people emerged from the supply train which they had hijacked earlier that evening. The first was a dark haired and somewhat chubby individual dressed mostly in blue. He was clutching his belly, complaining about that "stomach thing o'his" as he run towards the inside of the perimeter. He carried a handgun in his hands and another one was holstered in his belt. Presumably, he was Zone.

The second one was a long haired blonde hippie who wore army pants, a yellow jacket and a beanie. Once he saw the man with the Gunblade and what he had done with the guard, he snapped in attention and saluted him, aptly calling him "Sir!" despite the fact that he looked older. He then ran after Zone. He had a combat knife, but didn't seem like being able to use it in actual battle. As he ran in long strides, he ducked in front of a fallen Shinra guard and grabbed one of the submachine guns they used, figuring that it would help later on. Having seen him earlier, the Gunblade user recognized him as Watts.

The third person was a she, a cute one to boot. She had hazel nut brown hair of neck length, and wore a beret, a black sweater, and blue jeans. She was equipped with a submachine gun, and she carried herself with a grace that many soldiers (like the ones the gunman and the Gunblade wielder had killed mere seconds away) never mustered. She nodded in affirmation and ran after the guys. She was Xu.

Not sooner had they moved, the gunman was already following them. "Good luck!" He tossed behind his shoulder, and then he was gone, leaving the Gunblade wielder alone. He leaned his neck to the left, hearing two short snapping sounds and then dashed forward as the guards' room opened up, revealing two more sentries.

Standard procedure for Shinra Inc. guards was calling "Freeze!" as they pointed their guns at the assailant and then, depending on the situation, shooting or moving in for the arrest. Neither of the newly arrived guards had time to do either. They registered the man standing twenty feet away, his left arm gripping a Gunblade and his right one in front of his face, as if he was concentrating. The same hand that he tossed forward with a rush of light enveloping it, causing a wave of fire to conjure and engulf the guard to the front in a swift scorching grandeur, while the second one's chest greeted the Revolver to the hilt, the Gunblade wielder having crossed the distance between them before the immolated guard even hit the ground. The leather clad man waited one second, then another, and finally it was there; a cough full of blood, a sign of death and release from this world. His assailants were both dead; time to move on.

Before the man's bloody drool could even leave his mouth, the Gunblade wielder had already pulled his weapon out of the hired guard and ran to follow the others, allowing the man to collapse under his own weight, his life snuffed as a candle in a storm.

The five met up in a dark corridor with no lights; the entrance to the reactor perimeter. The female one was kneeling in front of a wrecked keypad and attempting to hack into the mainframe through it. The cowboy was smiling earnestly at the woman's tight bottom and red lingerie showed in the way she stooped. "Yep, that's right, honey, just keep going that way. You know all this electronic jazz like your back pocket."

The leather clad man rolled his eyes, where the cowboy's were fixated on one place and one place only. "It's done." He reported, hoping to lure him away from his reverie, and it worked.

"Oh, cool. Listen, I don't think you've met with the guys now, so here goes. The dark haired guy is Zone, this" he pointed with his free hand "is Watts, and the cutie buns here is Xu. Sorry, I didn't catch your name…" He said to the man with an apologetic smile.

"Squall Leonheart, Alpha Rank SeeD."

Watts exclaimed "Sir!" again, while Zone whistled in appreciation.

"A SeeD? Aren't they the bad guys, working with Shinra and all?" Said Xu, job to do momentarily forgotten.

"Yeah, but this one isn't, Xu. Now do your magic and let us through?" The cowboy said.

"Wow, never thought I'd see a SeeD in flesh and live to tell the tale!" Zone chuckled. "Cool to meet you man. It's nice to have you in Avalanche."

Squall was quick to disregard him. "I'm not here to chit chat, but do a job." He said coldly, his Revolver still at hand, dripping blood. Zone was truly intimidated, despite Squall being seven good years younger than him. "How long until you unlock the door, Miss?"

Xu was already turning, door behind her opening. "Not much at all." She replied, smiling. She turned at the cowboy, anger suddenly flaring as she followed his gaze. "Irvine Kinneas, were you staring at my ass?" She growled, and 'Irvine' moved his hands in defense.

"Just a little, baby." He said with a voice torn between being apologetic or proud, so he decided to avert the matter. "Job to do, Xu; we'll discuss this later."

"You bet your ass we will." She stomped away.

Squall stood impassive at their display, so when Irvine turned to look at him he could have passed as a statue. "Well, she has a nice ass," the cowboy admitted/protested, before motioning for both of them to move on. "C'mon, big guy, you and I are going to the core of this thing. As you heard, I'm Kinneas Irvine, and I am two things; a sharpshooter and an honest person."

Squall glared at him through dark locks.

"What I mean is this… SeeDs are regarded as Shinra scum and usually attacked on sight. I've made an exception for you, man; don't make me regret it." That clarified, Irvine turned and started running to the others, leaving the top rank SeeD alone with his arrogant response.

"Whatever."

* * *

"It's them." The thin, tall man pointed with a gloved hand at one of the security cameras, clarifying the intruders for his superior to see.

The shorter, powerfully built man nodded from where he stood. "The rebels."

"Do we proceed?" The tall man asked, and was horrified to see the ecstasy in his superior officer's eyes.

"Yes. They are still…" The other one grinned sadistically, revealing a toothy maw. "…Only children." He secured his own weapons and turned to leave the room, his grin evolving into laughter, causing his subordinate to join in with nervous chuckles.

* * *

The four of them were running, passing storerooms and containers, all crumpled together in an annoying labyrinth. Squall followed the rest of the group from above, jumping from roof to roof in order to prevent ambushes; Shinra could have simple guards-per-hour at the Mako reactor entrance but the rest of it was fully automated. Machinery programmed to kill anyone without authorization, robots with only one algorithm, and that being one of sadistically killing… The rumors – along with the guard the group had captured the previous night – said it all.

Despite their mad dash, Irvine paused to enter a surveillance room and decorate it with shrapnel from the single grenade he tossed inside. Despite hurrying to the reactor in order to destroy it and hit prime time, it would do them no good for their faces to be seen. He paused, peeking out from the wall he chose as cover, and saw that the one person inside the room was already dead from the explosion. He nodded grimly and ran after the others, sprinting around the complex, his blue eyes darting around cautiously.

Finally, they were able to see it; a part of Midgar's clutch around the city – the Mako reactor. It was protruding from the ground unappealingly, blocking the starry sky from being seen. A hollow giant consisting of cement metal and Mako… Irvine's clutch on his weapon tightened, and he paused strategically to address his comrades. To them, it was one was to oppose the rich and defend the poor. To Squall, who looked at them with obvious distaste – jeopardizing the mission like that? – it was his objective and way to get money.

"Alright guys, this is it." Irvine started, turning to look Zone, Watts and Xu in the eyes. "We've done a long road, but we're finally here. Believe me when I say that all of us, together, are going to make this work; we're gonna kick Shinra butt!" He raised the hand holding his shotgun in a valorous pose, and the rest of the rebellion group joined him in the same way. They remained that way for less than five seconds, when Irvine looked at one of the few remaining obstacles to fulfilling their objectives. A door leading into a T-shaped bridge, which with turn lead to the reactor itself. "Alright Xu, I want you to hack that keypad so that-"

Irvine's instructions were cut off from Squall, who had clearly lost the little tolerance he had for Irvine's idealisms. With a sudden move none of the Avalanche members foresaw, he thrust his Gunblade inside the keypad securing the door and pressed the trigger, the metallic substance reacting explosively to the sudden gush of energy. The doors hissed open right away, and Squall pulled his weapon back and went forward. "Move!" He called as his strides turned to sprinting, the iron on his boots clanging softly against the metal forming the bridge. Irvine and the rest stirred out of their fantasy, and followed straight behind him.

The route directly opposite of them, one leading to yet another closed door, was planned to be their road to escape. Zone ran towards it, securing it, while the others ran to the right and into the reactor. Squall waited in the T shaped junction for them to finally move according to plan, before following suit; his Gunblade seemed to be dripping even more blood than it was minutes ago due to its last minute invocation, and Zone could not help but gulp in fixation. What sort of a killing machine had they awakened in the face of Squall?

The four of them met in front of a sealed gate after passing empty offices and long corridors. Watts was on his knee, working furiously with the panel in order to open it prematurely. "I see you've decided to join us." Irvine said with a grin. "Say, is this your first time in a Mako reactor?"

"Yes." Came the harsh reply, and that was it. Irvine raised an eyebrow in irritation, but decided to let the matter drop. It was none of his business if this Squall person did not want to get attached with them now, was it? Still, he felt like he had to explain himself to Squall. So, after allowing his shotgun to rest on his shoulder, he asked again.

"Squall; do you know why we're doing this?" The cowboy asked. Squall's answer came in a harsh glare before shifting his eyes towards Watts work on the panel. Irvine felt anger boil up inside him, and he realized that Xu had stirred closer to him in obvious concern. The two of them could always bicker due to sexual tension but they always backed up each other. The gunman sighed. He really ought to have briefed Squall on the group's intentions.

"Listen, Squall; Mako is just a fancy name for the Planet's energy. What Shinra's doing is drain all that energy up, man!" As he spoke, Irvine felt his confidence rise once more. "The ground around Midgar can only be compared as a barren wasteland, and it's all due to those damn reactors! Soon, the whole planet will be in such a state – unless we stop it."

Irvine looked at Xu and patted her on the shoulder, a confident smile on his own lips. That smile disappeared when he saw Squall. He was leaning against the wall, eyes focused on his weapon, inspecting it for possible damage. That did it to Irvine, who lost the grip on his temper.

"Are you even listening?" He asked angrily, and Squall turned to look back with anger easily matching his own, if not overpowering it.

"Are you done yet?" He asked in response, surprising the rebels with the coldness in his tone. "I don't care about it, damn it! Simple as that. What the hell do you want me to say about other people's problems?"

"Squall," Xu tried, hoping that she could pass through to him, "we don't want you to say anything. We just want you to listen."

"Then go talk to a wall and leave me alone; I'll have none of it."

As Irvine seemed to snap, Watts intervened. "There you go, sir. Open." With an unexpected sound of cogs turning, the gates opened up.

"Good man." Irvine said, patting the timid man on the shoulder. His anger had passed completely, the anticipation getting the best of him. "Me, Squall and Xu will move on forward. Make sure we don't get locked between an explosion and a door now."

"Sir!"

They moved in the room, which was filled with delicate colorful machinery, and stood in front of the only elevator going down, to the reactor's core. "Good kid," Irvine explained, "but a little fixed on playing soldier. Something to do with his parents dying in the Wutai wars."

The elevator reached their level, and the woman was in first, followed by the two others. The elevator hummed again, and they started their descend towards the reactor core. "You know, Squall, this may or may not seem like child's play for you," Irvine announced with a deadpan tone, "but to us it's serious. The reactors are draining up the Planet's energy. They take and take and never give up; soon, the Planet will erode under its own weight, unless _we_ do something about it." His grip on his shotgun tightened. "You know, take matters in our own hands. That's why rebel groups like the Midgar Owls or our own, Avalanche, are formed; to prevent the planet from dying. No more reactors means kaput to Shinra Inc.'s depletion."

Squall looked at Irvine from where he had leaned on the wall. From his side, the cowboy looked much like Watts; just another kid playing toy soldier. _Does he even know what he is really getting into? Creating new reactors is easy for the world's greatest company. They have assassins, soldiers, and the media at their side. All you have, _he thought, his look hardening, _is a double-barreled shotgun and a good man attitude. Idiot. _Seeing that Irvine was honest about what he said, Squall kept his mouth strategically shut and did not say anything. Instead, he nodded as the lift's door opened. He really saw forward to blowing the damn place apart and getting his payment, so that he could be on his way.

Unsheathing his Gunblade, Squall moved forward, the other two following close. Comparing this side of the plant with high above, this one was less delicate but much more heavily working; pipes and machines were everywhere, giving the whole place a heavy industrial feel. Descending ladders and moving machines moved through the various levels of the reactor. The trio found themselves moving through the wires and pipes, stealthily reaching their destination; the reactor's heart. Xu waited at the ladder that had allowed them to reach the lowest level, the one with the pumping machines and the Mako itself, while the two males moved forward, Irvine's weapon constantly shifting in order to accommodate possible threats.

All around them were pipes, climbing in and out of the Mako. Pipes of every possible length and width, which seemed to pump with green liquid. They were walking in a straight bridge made of steel; it was thirty feet wide and more than a hundred ones long. Below them, not far away enough for comfort was the greatest amount of Mako they had ever seen; it stretched out to cover the entire room's foundation, and was enhanced enough through alterations and modifications that it glowed. In fact, it was the only source of illumination in the room, and yet the light it emanated linger out up to the reactor's top.

Mako could be easily changed to serve every single purpose one could imagine; down there, however, was Mako as it was before the important alterations, straight from the 'harvesting'; and yet, the stench it produced was enough for any simple man to not faint dead away. Bad meat left out in a sunny day. A man embracing with death. Rotting garbage. None of those already unpleasant smells could even hope to compare to the vile, sheer stench that Mako produced. But where the smell was unpleasant, the sight was splendidly phantasmagoric. A pool of constantly swirling lights, a vista like nothing else. The raw energy below was semi liquid and even from thirty feet up, Irvine could feel it as it annoyed his very own core.

"Here, Squall; set the bomb. I'll cover you." Irvine directed, giving the ex-SeeD a heavily wired plastic explosive. Squall nodded and moved forward. Setting the timer at twenty minutes, Squall attached it on the machinery's side with a sticky sound. He then moved back to where Irvine was sniping when Xu's scream echoed around the halls.

"Xu!" Irvine howled back, and Squall grabbed his shoulder, frowning at the lack of discipline the gunman seemed to always display.

"They're coming." The ex-SeeD warned. "Be on the lookout."

Weapons on the ready, clock ticking, they waited. No way to deactivate their own bomb prematurely, they waited and hoped that whoever had attacked Xu was going to show up. No sooner than a minute had passed, when Irvine started tapping his foot. "Damn, this is nerve-wracking. Squall, we must hurry and get Xu; they might hurt her!"

Squall shook his head. "No. They know we're aware of their presence. They will use Xu as a human shield while setting a trap. They'll be going with the standard procedure and try to corner us." He deadpanned.

"Exactly!" Echoed a cocky voice from the other side of the bridge, and two figures emerged from the shadows; both were dressed in Shinra Inc.'s commanding officers' uniforms. The first one had a powerful build and wore a crimson suit, proving him to be a lieutenant of their private army, and had assaulting bracers attached. They were another of Shinra Inc.'s infamous devices, since they were both inconspicuous and deadly; they seemed like round pieces of steel but in reality they had three barrels, each of which shot with submachine gun speeds. He was pointing one at Xu's head while the other one was turning from Squall to Irvine and back, making sure they'd stay put. The other officer had a blue uniform on and was much thinner than his ally, and sported a sword. They both had cybernetic helmets equipped, devices which not only offered them protection, but also gave them thermal and night vision, as well as targeting aide.

"You're both under arrest under the jurisdiction of Shinra Inc., you little twerps! You might've been lucky and attacked the reactor on a robotic guard maintenance day, but that doesn't mean that we two and good enough to take a bunch of brats like you down!" The crimson clad officer cursed, as he grinned confidently. "Now lay your weapons down and pray that we don't 'accidentally' shoot you!"

Squall decided it was time to play his cards right. "How good are you with your shotgun?" He whispered.

"The best." Came the reply, and the ex-SeeD nodded.

"Alright. Don't shoot." Squall called to the guards, turning the attention to him. The superior officer smiled cruelly, his grip around Xu's neck tightening in order to prove that he was not playing. She moaned in pain, but as she looked back up, she saw Squall tap the side of his weapon with his fingers. She tried inspecting that curious show of nervousness from the ex-SeeD only to realize that he had allowed three fingers to rest before tapping again. Two fingers.

"You don't have any right to be making demands, not when we have your friend." Said the officer, and the other guard nodded. "So do us both a favor and pull the safeties back on, before dropping the weapons down, or else the bitch's going down." Irvine nodded and lowered his weapon.

"Ok, ok! Don't do it!" He cried. "Here, I'm disabling it!" A mechanic sound erupted from the shotgun as Irvine pulled a mechanism in front of the trigger part.

One finger.

"Now!" Squall cried, and Irvine's weapon shot both forward and at the crimson guard's head. The force of the blast, along with Xu ducking at the most suited time was all that saved her, since the guard literally flew three good feet above the steel ground before falling hard on his back, dazed but alive, his helmet permanently ruined.

"Wedge!" He managed to yell, anger taking its toll. "Kill these bastards!"

Xu was unarmed, so she ran away from Wedge, the guard in blue, and near Squall, who dashed forward to attack.

Sword and Gunblade clashed in between, sending a ringing sound through the air. The weapons were locked in furious battle… But Squall's legs were not. His right knee shot up towards Wedge's groin, where it got him directly. All's fair in war. Wedge fell on the ground, his hands now clutching his private parts, his sword discarded.

The other guard had risen, only for his face to meet up with Irvine's shotgun. Irvine was thoroughly pissed off as he led the crimson clad man to the edge of the bridge, far enough that his back was leaning against the protective railings. "Wh-what are you doing?!" The guard cried, whose nametag wrote 'Sgt. Biggs.'

"You dare threaten my friend with death!" Irvine growled, raising his shotgun to point accusatory on Biggs' face.

"No, kid, listen to me! It was a way to force you into surrendering! We never meant to hurt her!" Irvine's look did not change, so Biggs chose to express himself. "This is madness!" Biggs cried, his heel having reached the end of the bridge and hanging above the Mako. He was losing his footing, and he was insanely nervous about it.

"Madness?" Irvine asked innocently, before his visage turned to that of white hot rage; "This is AVALANCHE, bitch!" He then promptly kicked Biggs into the Mako, dooming him. The ex-SeeD's Revolver had immediately struck at Wedge's neck, wounding him fatally. In middle air, the sergeant reached out for the railing, or for the bridge itself, or for a pipe, or for _anything_ as he fell directly into the Mako. Just the sheer touch of the liquid was enough to make Biggs come back to the surface screaming as he literally dissolved, his flesh chirping as the Mako invaded its every pore. Finally, it was in his lungs, and his screams finally stopped. Irvine only stared, and it was Xu's cry that brought Irvine out of his stupor.

"Only fifteen minutes left!" She cried as she ran past him. "Irvine, hurry!"

He nodded in affirmation and the trio ran.

* * *

_00:04:31_

* * *

The elevator dinged open and the three of them dashed out of it, straight at Watts. "All done, sir?" The boy asked, to which Irvine only responded with "Move!" They had already lost precious time finding their way through the pipes back up.

* * *

_00:02:56_

* * *

"Zone, the door! Open it!" Zone was squatting down, clutching his belly.

"Ow, ow, ow." He complained, turning his head at them, before turning serious. "It's no use, guys! My keycard is not working!"

* * *

_00:01:20_

* * *

"What?!" Irvine cried incredulously. "You mean that you've been doing nothing all this time? Dude, we're gonna be killed!" His cool façade switching places with hysteria, he started shifting his gaze from one person to another.

Xu approached the keypad. "Give me the keycard. It's _got _to work."

* * *

_00:00:43_

* * *

"Zone! For the love of Hyne! This isn't the keycard I gave you!"

"…What?!"

* * *

_00:00:19_

* * *

Squall hurried forward and slammed his Gunblade through the keypad, pressing the trigger once, then twice. Shrapnel of what used to be delicate machinery scattered to the ground, and the door hummed halfway open.

* * *

_00:00:05_

* * *

Curious what imminent death can cause people to do. All of them were past the door, Xu even smiling appreciatively at Squall, who nodded back.

* * *

_00:00:00_

* * *

Squall had just passed when he felt the shaking of the very building. "Run!" He called forward, and the Avalanche members complied with the best of their abilities.

_Shaking, sound wave, blast, fire, blast wave. The order which bombs explode in. You feel it, you suddenly go deaf, you are blasted away, then burned, then blasted away once more, killing you instantly, or scattering your charred bones away._

Squall squelched the morbid thoughts and ran as fast as he could remember his feet carrying him. The end of the tunnel was there suddenly, and they were out in the open air. "Scatter!" Irvine called, and they did.

As they spread around the sod they had arrived at (the reactor's back entrance), bright flames followed them suit, before they finally died along. Zone was on the ground, gasping for air, his physique denying him to go any further. Watts had leaned on a wall's debris and chuckled, the experience much better than he thought it would ever be. Xu had leaned forward, sweat on her brow and hands on her knees, regaining her composure. Irvine cried in success, and Squall seemed like he had never even moved from his spot, his Gunblade sheathed and his attitude cool.

"We made it! How do you like them apples, Shinra?!" Irvine cried in exuberance, and the others joined him in a happy yell of triumph. The party crasher was Squall, who gave them one look and then turned his attention elsewhere.

"We need to move." He called, and Irvine nodded as he holstered his shotgun in an inside pocket of his coat.

"Good call." He could hear the sirens despite the ringing in his ears. "Spread out! We move at the train station!" The Avalanche members were gone as soon as he finished his call, so he turned to the SeeD. "You'll get paid once we get to Sector Seven, of course."

"Whatever." Squall deadpanned, and ran away from the crime scene, not once looking back. For him, it was another job well done.

* * *

**Author's Thoughts: **Yeah, I know. You must be squinting, going "what the hell, man?" or deciding on reading this just to give me another chance. So here are my thoughts on character comments.

I, much like Darren and Peptuck, faced the same dilemma: who do I change Biggs, Wedge and Jessie with? Like them, I just could not see any other choice. So here it is, they are (once more) changed with Zone, Watts and Xu (the latter of which I find to have written out of character, but let's face it; neither she nor Irvine is SeeDs in this story).

Now, as for Barret… I just can't see Zell leading Avalanche. Of all of them, he's even more playful and "immature" (some times) than Selphie! I just can't see him taking care of the Avalanche guys AND a little orphaned girl. I just can't. Irvine, on the other hand, with his "ladies' man" attitude and "philosophy" suits him much better. Don't get me wrong; over Irvine and Zell, I prefer the martial artist. It's just a matter of preference and personal view. As for that hitting on Xu, well, I don't know where that came from, but I don't put it past him.

Anyway… To our protagonist. In case you did not notice, I have given Squall the sleeveless version of his jacket, as introduced in Kingdom Hearts. To answer your yet unspoken question, no, he does not have his scar yet; no I did not forget to add it in his description. :P

Finally, on the Matrix/300 "quotes"… I just had to use them. Sorry if I offended anyone by defiling their favorite movies or whatever, so I'll just say this; I'll be seen using many more quotes from movies, as well as action scenes, obvious ones or not. Take that as a last minute disclaimer.

Alright, I think I've wrapped everything up. Next chapter, you see 'Aeris', 'Tifa', and most probably Squall's descend to the slums, if you catch my drift.

Later. Sizdothyx out.


	2. Flowers and Angels

The explosion shook the entire city with the upheaval and force of a dying star. The barely two kilograms weighing plastic explosive's detonation was more than enough to take down an entire building – imagine what it could do when combined with the raw energy below. It was the Mako that did the job after all; the unique material expressed its distain at the disturbance by causing a discharge by itself. Shinra Inc.'s own power had turned against them and, perhaps for a little while, the Planet could take a break.

Everything in the reactor's proximity was annihilated; machines, bodies, the Mako itself existed no more after the chain reaction. There was not a single soul that had not felt the tremendous disruption, and the people in the upper Midgar had seen the entire thing. After the mayhem's sounds ceased, they were either consoling each other, praying, or enraged out of human comprehension.

The giant screen lit, showing the face of a chubby man in his late forties. He had thin bright blonde hair and sported a same colored moustache, and it was obvious to all that he was dyeing them. He was wearing a red two-piece suit with a white shirt underneath. Lax around his neck was a red tie sporting the Shinra emblem; an also red rhombus that wrote Shinra Electric Power Company in _Kanji. _Around the giant screen were tapestries with the same symbol that covered the speakers. Honey brown eyes glared down from the screen and onto the viewers; Shinra Inc.'s board of directors.

The man was known as Gordon Shinra; he was the most powerful man on the Planet. And when the most powerful man on the Planet was angrier than a wounded animal, crossing him could prove to be the last thing one would do.

The room addressing the screen was dark and gloomy - a perfect place to have a conversation such as the one that would follow. The fattest – but not necessarily the richest – of the directors dared a nervous glance to each other and looked at their boss.

"Gentlemen," the president greeted, "I will hear your reports now. Mr. Heidegger, speak for Public Safety Maintenance and be quick about it."

At the request, a rowdy man dressed in a green suit leaned forward and into the screen's illumination. He was rather short and sported a long beard reaching down in front of his chest. He was leader of the PSM and damn proud of it, despite the constant puns that his co-workers tossed at him due to his position in the company. "Ja, Mr. President." He spoke with a thick German accent. "We have less than two minutes of usable footage. It took the suspects less than a minute to dispatch the surveillance equipment, thus rendering us with but the first seconds of their attack – that is all the system managed to send us via the Interlink."

The President looked down and frowned. "As you can see, Mr. President," continued Heidegger, "the suspects' speed and strength are extraordinary. We suspect Junctioning, and have our specialists working on that." He changed the subject. "I'm afraid that the shooter's hat and the other one's longer blade make identification difficult, but thankfully not impossible."

The President turned to look at the woman of the party. "Ms. Scarlet, report for the Weapons Development."

Scarlet was a woman in her late twenties that followed the Shinra Inc. policy to the letter; she had walked on corpses – quite literally – and ruined lives to climb through the ranks. The fact that she was beautiful and knew how to use her bodily assets was just a plus. She smiled at the President, and leaned forward as well, revealing her long blond hair caught in a high ponytail and a scarlet dress. "We were able to triangulate the origin of the fireworks in the reactor's core. We also are currently monitoring a lot of phone surveillance indicating a high percentage of conversation concerned with the explosion. All suspect or significant transcripts are being forwarded to Mr. Heidegger. One last thing, though; the robotic maintenance that was scheduled for two weeks from now occurred today. Hacking is most definitely the source of the malfunction, and my department is already installing new security measures."

"Very well." Shinra proclaimed. "Dr. Hojo, report for the Science Department."

Hojo did not bother in leaning in front of the table where all the directors sat. Instead, he glanced at his paperwork before addressing the President. "Thanks to Scarlet, we found the launch for the explosives. These appear to be individually weighted flares and we have found traces of chemicals at the detonation site which leads us to conclude that, despite a level of sophistication, these devices are all home-made with over the counter chemicals, making them impossible to trace. That would be all." Hojo was dressed in a white lab coat with a simple black suit underneath. He possessed a thin goatee and long black hair that were caught up in a short ponytail at the base of his neck.

"Thank you, Dr. Hojo."

An intercom link disrupted the flow of the direction. "Mr. President, Cid Kramer has arrived."

As if on cue, the doors opened to allow a man in his good fifties enter the dark room. He wore round glasses; his hair was thin and steadily graying and was perfectly shaved. Cid wore black pants and immaculate shoes. A red vest adorned his white shirt, the only flaw in his torso being a beer belly that came with age. The President turned to look at the fresh arrival along with the board of directors. "Mr. Kramer." The President greeted with mockery in his voice. "Do you know what this is behind me?" He pointed at his background.

Deciding that this was not a time of politics but earnest words, Cid shook his head. "A computer system that connects you to the Interlink and allows you to talk to us all the way from Junon, sir?"

"No. No sir. It's more than that. This, this computer is a symbol, Mr. Almond. A symbol of the highest attainable goal of mankind. Do you know what that goal is, Mr. Kramer?"

Cid did not know, and said so. Immediately, the President slammed on his desk, the thumping sound echoing in the room and making Scarlet wince. "Control, Mr. Kramer! Control! The world around us is a changing, directionless, amoral morass and it is up to Shinra and Shinra alone to set things right!" He pointed at Cid through the screen. "Without control, man is nothing more than any other stinking, sweating, brute animal. Control, Mr. Kramer. The control that we have painstakingly built up over the last twenty years, from the beginning of the company. Now, do you understand what happened earlier this night?"

Cid decided against shaking his head and took a wild guess, trying to appease the President. "We… Lost control?"

"Yes, Mr. Kramer. This night someone did the unthinkable. Someone hurt us. It is imperative that we act swiftly and precisely. I want these men found, Mr. Kramer. I want their heads or, by Hyne's will, I'll have yours."

Cid Kramer gulped, and nodded. "That would be all, gentlemen." Shinra said. The only director that had not spoken chose that particular second to jump in. "Sir! What about the Space Exploration Division?" He was by far the most obese person in the room, with brown hair and swollen cheeks.

"I could not care less about it, Mr. Palmer." The link died, and the President's visage disappeared from view, much to Cid's relief. The rest of the directors got up and left, leaving him behind.

* * *

Squall leisurely walked the dark roads of sector Eight, hands in pockets and Gunblade 'sheathed'. He just allowed it to hang from one of his belts after he had cleaned it. People all around him were running panicked, but he could not care less. To him, everything was good; he would get his money, wish the Avalanche group luck unless they started whining about the Planet, and leave towards his goal.

He had been walking for ten minutes, casually strolling through the busy roads and towards the train station, where he had rendezvous with the others, when he saw a few thugs exploiting the chaos that had befallen on the city and walking aggressively towards a young woman who obviously wanted nothing to do with them. She had the 'damsel in distress' look and, when she saw the ex-SeeD, she cried out at him, warning the thugs about his presence. "Squall!"

No time to lose on wondering how she knew his name, Squall fell back in combat mode when he saw one of the thugs draw a handgun from his jacket and point it at him. He dared close his eyes in concentration for a single second, and drew at the energy enveloping him, accelerating his response time and reflexes. He heard the gunshot, but long before that, the ex-SeeD had drawn his weapon and prepared for the fight.

Before the criminals' eyes Squall had already moved his torso to the left, dodging the otherwise lethal shot to the heart. The thug, maintaining his composure, shot again and again, his mind figuring that it couldn't hurt to make sure the man died.

However, Squall had much different plans that had only one thing in common with the thugs'; blood, lots of it, albeit none of it his.

The Haste spell allowed Squall to move much faster, as well as accommodate with such speed. He saw the spark, the pistol's knockback. He understood where the man aimed. He saw small, dark streaks commence from the pistol's end, the bullet leaving a visible – to him - shake as it tore through the shifting air. The metal rocketed towards the ex-SeeD's shoulder, moving faster than lightning to the thugs' eyes; but to Squall, it was as slow as he needed it to be.

Squall threw his shoulder sideways, and watched as the bullet flew past.

He did not follow the course of the bullet – he had not been taught to do so. Instead, he watched the man's every move and thus was able to see a second bullet on the way, aimed for where his chest now was. The ex-SeeD twisted out of the way, swinging his torso out of the path of the bullet once more. Two more shots rang out, the bullets barely an inch apart. By then, Squall had decided that he had enough and attacked the bullets with his Gunblade's flat side, effectively parrying them.

To the thugs, Squall was not just moving; he was leaving traces of where he was earlier, and what they saw was him dodge one bullet, then another; then there were two sounds of ringing metal, and a hand still grasping the assaulting handgun was sent flying as a dark blur crossed the distance between the would-be crime scene and where he once stood and struck with his unique weapon.

Judging that the thugs would be a danger to innocents if left alone, Squall sent his Gunblade at the man's head, not bothering to press the trigger. Using his enhanced speed, he practically flew to the rest of the criminals and was done with them before the one with the gun could realize that his hand now resided ten feet away.

The Haste spell coming to an end, Squall regained his footing the last second and turned to look at the woman, who was seemingly torn between celebrating and running for her sweet life.

"It's okay," Squall offered, obscuring his weapon from her eyes with his body, "but you need to be going now."

She nodded, her short brown hair following her head throughout the notion. She looked at Squall with eyes of a unique brown shade. They were set into a pale-skinned face, smooth and flawless, beautiful additions being a delicate nose and a small mouth. She wore a slender white dress that seemed to cling to her body, highlighting her curves, open enough to reveal her long slender legs. She wore a small blue jacket open, over the dress, along with a small pair of worn boots. She had an emerald green shawl hanging around her shoulders. For some reason, she was insanely attractive to Squall, and he found himself staring, momentarily forgetting that she already knew his name somehow.

Before he could react, she had approached him with cute steps and planted a kiss on his cheek and a flower in his free hand. "Thanks, Squall. It's good to see you again." She offered, and ran away.

Squall stared, caught up in a stupor induced by pheromones. It was an extremely pleasant feeling, and he felt that the only thing could bring him out of it was danger.

A whistle echoing through the street was not danger by itself, but four Shinra 'law' enforcers was more than enough to make him snap out of it. Judging that they would prove to be far more trouble than the common street thug, Squall bailed.

He lead them through the natural maze the streets formed, and finally ducked behind a corner, waiting.

Squall waited in a squatting position, and could not shake the predator's feel out of his system. The Shinra officers finally caught up with his residing place, and seeing that they had not located him, he started counting. One, two, three… As the men run past him, never to look back, the ex-SeeD shot his weapon of choice forward, cleaving at the fourth man's legs. With an inhumane scream, the man fell to the ground, a victim to Squall's fury and triggered Gunblade.

The others turned to look, but they were common policemen, barely trained to guerilla warfare like Squall was. They approached their fallen comrade, still squirting on the ground, shaken and engrossed at the same time. As they approached the side street's entrance, Squall struck once more. A quick fire spell caught the first one directly at the chest, sending him tumbling more than ten feet away, and as the remaining survivors of the squad turned to look, the Revolver cleaved at their vital organs ruthlessly.

Squall did not feel right with his choices, but it was not like he had any choices with the matter; being seen could jeopardize the mission. Far away, the train's whistle blew. Spitting a quick curse, the ex-SeeD made haste towards the station.

As he reached the station, it was painfully obvious that he was late. Gunblade still at hand, Squall struck the fence disabling commoners from entering the train rails and run inside the perimeter. Shinra guards were there as well, and as the ex-SeeD traded cautiousness with the need to hurry up, he reached an empty platform down of which were the tunnels from where the train would pass. Squall allowed himself to relax; the train was slowly gaining speed towards his residing place. He still had a chance.

"Freeze!"

Squall glanced behind him. Eight guards had managed to sneak up to him, and all of them were pointing their guns at him. He closed his eyes, seemingly in frustration, but in reality he was forming a plan. They were surrounding him…

"Yep," said one of them, "I suppose he looks like one of the terrorists alright. And even if he isn't, there hasn't been a single person the Turks haven't cracked yet." The other Shinra guards chuckled at the joke.

"Hey, you! Turn around, and keep your hands up or we'll shoot!"

Squall sighed. No rest for the wicked on the night of the Devil, it seemed. He turned, his hands dwelling behind his head, and gave the guards his most stern look. "I'm getting on that train, like it or not." He warned, and one of the guards to his right laughed.

"I'd like to see you try, scum!"

When Squall opened his mouth to respond, it was not his voice that vibrated through the platform on which they stood, but something else's. Something much more ancient, and much more terrifying. "_As you wish._"

Squall's material form was suddenly extinguished, giving place to a swirling pool of energy spinning uncontrollably in front of the guards. It span faster than the eye could see, and when it finally stopped seconds later, wings enveloped at its upper middle, and a head resembling that of a hawk or falcon stretched forward to glare at the guards. One of the guards wetted himself and was not embarrassed by that at all as the pure energy in front of them gained details in the form of tribal tattoos on its wings and front. Hot air surrounded the guards as the thing in front of them breathed back and unleashed hell on them in the form of a thunderstorm.

It struck the platform with the force of a bomb, incinerating everything living on it; the guards where literally scattered like leafs to the wing, bloodless body parts decorated the entire stand along with static electricity which pierced the night's embrace better than fireworks.

Finally, amongst the mayhem and dead bodies, Squall's form reappeared. He seemed worn out, but more hyper than ever, despite the macabre sight in front of him. Hearing a whooshing sound below, he turned to see that the train was passing into the tunnels below. Deciding that taking a second to breath was impossible, the teen secured his grip on his Gunblade and jumped off the platform and, hopefully, onto the train itself…

* * *

"Squall never showed up, huh?" Xu asked from the safety of the cargo car the Avalanche members had boarded about ten minutes earlier. The resistance group was spread among crates and passengers' various belongings, Irvine going far enough to use two bags as a recliner. The cowboy turned to look at her, a curious look asserting the disappointment in his comrade's voice. She saw him looking, and asked him from her spot. "Irvine, do you think Shinra got Squall?"

Irvine shrugged in response, getting more comfortable on the suitcases and tilting his hat in order to cover his face. "I'm as clueless as you are, honey. But I don't think he's dead, to be honest."

Zone got up from his usual crouching position long enough to ask "Do you think he'll join us in our cause? You know, fight Shinra and save the Planet?"

"Guys," Irvine murmured, "I'm no mind reader…" His subordinates looked at him, expecting something more, so the gunman finally left his relaxing pose in order to address them. "Alright guys, listen up; Squall's a mystery to me, alright? I don't know that much longer than you do, so give me a break, alright?"

They nodded sadly, their hopes falling. Silence filled the cabin and in such conditions they rode for minutes when a familiar Gunblade pierced the gap between the side door and one of the walls. There was a bang, and the door slammed open, revealing a tired Squall. The ex-SeeD jumped in the cabin before the Avalanche members could even register his presence fully, and sheathed his weapon before dropping his gaze on them. Xu smiled at him, Watts saluted, Zone looked amazed, and Irvine's mouth had formed a perfect 'o', the universal sign of shock.

"Sorry for being late." Squall offered, deciding to leave it at that.

Irvine got up from his seat, not believing his eyes. "Damn it, man! We were worried for your hide over nothing?"

"Seems like it." Squall tossed back. He knew his own limits, and was a hundred percent certain that he would make it when opposed by simple Shinra guards.

"Whatever." The cowboy said, borrowing a phrase. He moved to the door leading to the passenger seats and removed a couple of crates blocking it. "Avalanche, I think it's time for us to move to higher grounds, if you catch my drift." He opened the door and went through to the far more decorated cabin.

Watts said nothing and followed his leader, and Zone did with whispered complaints of how his stomach hurt. Squall figured that unless the chubby man feigned his pain, he did not have long to live. The Gunblade specialist turned to see Xu looking at him expectantly. She had closed the door during Irvine and Squall's arguing, and now she looked at him, arms crossed in front of her chest. "Uh, Squall?" The ex-SeeD nodded. "Um, I wanted to thank you. You saved us all back there."

His young face took a look of genuine curiosity; he honestly did not understand what she was talking about. She smiled at that. For all his fighting ability, Squall was really not much when it came to socializing. "The reactor, Squall. If it wasn't for your quick thinking, we'd be incinerated."

"Don't worry about it." He said, dismissing the subject already with a wave of his hand. "Besides, you knew the risks."

"I guess." She reached into her back pocket and retrieved a handkerchief. "Here, your face is dirty." She reached for his face, and Squall let her clean it. She smiled at him and he nodded once more.

"Let's head out." He said, and they did.

As they entered the car, Irvine called for the mercenary. "Hey, Squall!" He had once again regained his relaxing pose, leaning on one of the couches. On the other end of the car sat Watts on guard duties, making certain they would have their privacy. Squall walked up to the laid-back cowboy, and looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and irritation.

"Listen, Squall. I want this to work, I really do, okay? That means, you and I have to communicate better than this, or else we're gonna get one of my boys-" he glanced at Xu "-and girl dead." Squall's look was now fuelled by irritation, so Irvine chuckled tensely and completed his line of thought. "What I mean is, we've made a good investment in you. We might not communicate, but at least we need to try. I know that your SeeD training hasn't made you the most talkative cookie in the jar, but that's alright. Sharpshooters are loners by nature. We hone our instincts and bodies, pouring our entire essence into a single bullet. Waiting for that one moment, that final second, before we take the shot. We put everything into that one bullet…" He trailed off, looking out of a window parallel to the seat he was reclining on, taking a glance at Midgar's monstrous structure.

He was talking mostly to appease his own self now. "The pressure of that instant, that one moment," he said. "I have to face that alone. It's not easy." Finally, he turned to Squall with a crooked smile on his face. "Truce, mate. That's what I'm talking about."

"You don't make any sense." Squall tried, walking away from the cowboy and towards Xu who was beckoning at him. She was standing in front of a screen at the other car's end.

"Hey, Squall. Look at this with me, will you?" It was a map of the route the train followed. From the screen, it showed to be amazing, with the highlighted areas and the flashes. It looked like a coliseum with hundreds of vines hanging from it. Of course, the actual fact was that Midgar had nothing amazing about it; it was a polluted dying place, no matter how sugarcoated it seemed when introduced by Shinra's advertisers.

"We're approaching a checkpoint." She said with a scheming tone. "But, thanks to the fake IDs we're carrying, we're safe." As if on cue, the whole train's interior lights flashed red three times, and then returned to normal.

"That was the checkpoint?" Squall asked, and Xu nodded in affirmation.

"Yes. Their technology detects life forms and from there, they check if people have IDs on them. If they do, then the information is compared to the Shinra database and if it doesn't match, then they lock up the train."

"I see." The ex-SeeD said.

"Well, I hacked into the mainframe the other night, so all five of us have fake names. For example, I'm Jessie Anderson, Irvine is Barret Wallas, and you're Theodore Bagwell." She said, chuckling. "Don't mind the names, however. We'll always think of you as Squall."

"Right. Thanks, I suppose." Their conversation was cut off by the train exiting the tunnel, giving them both a unique view of Midgar's foundations. The air started to stink in seconds, and Zone with Watts moved to close the windows.

To the people outside Midgar, the people in the slums were courageous and heady; anyone who could live in the actual wasteland produced by Midgar was more than bold in their minds. Truth was, with the metropolis resembling a wide cylinder, there was no such thing as justice. The upper vertical surface had police, sanitation and comfortable apartments – all in the exchange of money, of course. The people who did not possess that lived in the other side – the slums. There it was all for all and one for one or die. Prostitution, drugs, criminals that did much more than hit and run, you name it; it could be found down there, in the desolate side of Midgar.

And they were heading down there.

Squall sighed incoherently, and leaned forward to get a closer look. The lights did make that place unique; it was similar to a see of fireflies. From behind him and Xu, Irvine commented. "Home. It ain't much, but I'll take that every day from that damned pizza up there." He turned to look out of the window at his side, which had view to Midgar's metallic skeleton.

Irvine was talking about the upper side, the plate that covered the slums from seeing the sun. It was floating far above the ground mostly with the aid of a central pillar and other eight ones, all spread underneath the sectors. For each sector, there was an analogous slum.

"No day or night in the slums. That's the only truth down there." Irvine said with a toughened look on his face. Turning to look at him, Squall understood his concern for the planet a bit – but just a bit. It still was none of his business.

"From far away, Midgar looks amazing. But the truth is disconcerting." He agreed.

Irvine nodded. "Damn right. And it's because of people like President Shinra and his fucking plate that people are stranded down here. Greedy sons of bitches." He cursed.

"Why don't the people of the slums leave then?" Squall asked, monotonously.

"It's not that simple, Squall. They have nowhere to go. They can't move to the plate because that sort of living requires money. On the other hand, home is where your heart is, and almost all of us down there have lived their lives in the slums. Sometimes, you love your home no matter how corrupted it gets."

Squall moved away to the other end of the cabin and sat down. "No one lives in the slums because they chose to. In a sense, they're like this train; they can't go anywhere but where their tracks get them…" He finished and turned his head out of the window, watching the slums below them.

Xu smiled at Irvine and he winked back at her. Who knew? There may have been hope for Squall yet. From the speakers, the announcer began their arrival.

"_Sector Seven train will arrive at the station in less than five minutes. __Collect your belongings and prepare to disembark. I repeat…"_

* * *

Mixed up with the passengers, the Avalanche members got off the train and gathered discreetly at the station's exit. "Alright, listen up! It was a job well done-" Irvine started, but Watts cut him off.

"Amazingly done, sir!"

"Right, right, amazingly done." Irvine replied, smiling. "But that's just the beginning, so don't you go relaxing yet. I suggest we go blow some steam at the hideout, and come up with a plan for the next operation, alright?"

The group nodded and dispersed, Zone Watts and Xu leaving for somewhere to the front. Irvine was about to follow, when Squall grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Oh, Squall," The cowboy acknowledged, "don't worry about the money. It's all in the hideout. Come and join us for a beer and we'll discuss it there, okay?" With a frown, Squall nodded and followed Irvine to where the rest of Avalanche was moving.

If one was earnest about it, Sector Seven was a dump. The slums were a gigantic garbage dump – and occasionally the sewer - of the plate above, and it showed; horrific amounts of garbage and unused materials decorated the roads and, when properly salvaged, operated as actual homes. Squall was certain that he detected an actual car shoved up between the common trash and mountains of junk as he moved with Irvine, but did not comment on it.

Squall watched as they passed an impromptu fence made of garbage, which signified their being inside Sector Seven's borders. Houses made of discarded materials seemingly popped out of the ground like mushrooms after rain – although Squall was certain that he did not want anything to have with mucus that was developed into the kind of soil he was walking on now. Despite the actual lack of structural engineering and proper materials, however, the people in the sector had managed to make them resemble homes. Squall gave off a mental shrug. As long as they were operating well in their spontaneous houses, good for them. However, as he walked through the dirty slum roads, Squall could detect that the people really lived it up and did not allow their situation to get the best of them.

Seeing Irvine smile at the playing children or greet the casual neighbor gave Squall a good vibe. He sort of liked the feeling, and finally understood what the cowboy meant with 'love their home'.

In the heart of the vicinity was a bar of sorts that stood out like a lighthouse. A bright green neon sign signified it as 'Seventh Heaven - Bar', a clever pun considering where they were, and it seemed to be far more industrialized than the homes that rested next to it. Seeing how Irvine moved directly at the place, and how he had commented something about a drink or two, Squall figured that this was their hideout. _Not too hidden. _Was the mental note, but he said nothing.

Irvine stopped to converse, and beckoned Squall to head to the bar. Not one to really bother, Squall entered the bar accompanied by a female voice crying "Papa!"

The ex-SeeD paused at the door, flabbergasted. He did not remember doing anything that could make him pass as a 'papa'…

"No, Marlene, that's not him." A melodic voice sounded from the bar, drawing Squall's attention there. "But here he is, right behind this gentleman." On cue, Irvine entered the door and immediately approached the little girl, who squealed in delight.

The girl, who could not have been older than five, had long brown hair and eyes of the same color. She was giggling to Irvine's playful demeanor as he embraced her and asked her how her day was. "Fine, papa, Rinoa helped me." Chuckling, Irvine pressed his cowboy hat on her head.

Squall looked from the door, where he still sat, and took in his surroundings. It seemed like a really cozy place, with paintings and large tables aligned perfectly. Right next to the bar counter sat a large jukebox and behind the bar, right above the large mirror that covered the wall, were positioned numerous pictures of Julia Heartily, a very famous singer. Almost all were signed and dedicated to 'Rinoa'.

He turned his attention to the young woman behind the counter and allowed himself a pause. The girl's Chinese eyes were the most capturing feature of hers; they seemed to shine brighter than the stars with a hidden energy that seemed to draw him in. Despite their black color, they were far from described as void – in fact, they were the exact opposite, pools of radiant health. Her raven black hair had a few caramel streaks falling down amongst them, and they framed her delicate face with grace. She seemed to be at Squall's age. She was wearing black shorts that ended halfway on her hips, revealing her long slender legs. Short combat boots adorned her ballerina feet. She was wearing a sleeveless white t-shirt that clung to her body, enhancing her figure, and a black shawl, also sleeveless, atop of it. It fell up to her ankles, much like a coat. On the back of the shawl, right on her shoulder blades, were drawn two small wings, much similar to an angel's. She smiled at his sweetly, then put down the glass she was washing and moved in front of the counter.

"Looks like it's up to me to make introductions, eh?" Irvine whined, causing a chuckle to erupt from the Avalanche members who were sitting at one of the tables, playing cards and – in Zone's case – munching on snacks.

"Alright, alright." Irvine said, and gestured at Rinoa and the girl on his embrace. "Squall Leonheart, meet Rinoa Heartilly and Marlene Kinneas. Ladies, this is Squall, badass extraordinaire."

More laughter erupted from the trio.

"Well, Mr. Badass," Rinoa joked, "it's good to have you in my humble shop. Please, sit down and enjoy yourself."

"Actually," Xu tossed from her side, "I think we ought to go and check the television and the Interlink for reports as to the mission."

"Always a party spoiler, Xu." Zone winked, and she punched him playfully on the shoulder.

Irvine secured Marlene in his arms, and then moved in front of the jukebox. He pressed a button, and sweet music started filling the room.

"_Whenever sang my songs… On the stage, on my own… Whenever said my words… Wishing they would be heard…" _The sweet voice sang. The song was beautiful, using only a piano, a violin and drums to express feelings that only a person in love could feel.

Squall frowned. _What is love? You get attached to a person, and if that person doesn't backstab you, then you can go on living your merry lives. _Squall knew he sounded bitter and perhaps a bit erotophobic, but before his mental rant could evolve into something more sinister, Irvine pressed the button once more and, to Squall's surprise, part of the floor on which he stood along with the jukebox disappeared into the ground – a miracle cause by hydraulics.

The rest of the group moved to follow Irvine, leaving behind Rinoa and Squall. "So," the girl started "can I pour you something to drink?"

Despite the imbedding feeling that it was in vain, Squall nodded. "Something hard." He said, and after a second added "Please."

She smiled kindly at him and moved behind the counter, picking up bottles and a glass. With precise moves, that one could tell they came only from experience, she filled a water glass with Vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequila and something resembling a soda drink. "There you go." She said, and placed the (liquid dynamite) drink in front of him.

"…Thanks." Slowly, he reached for the glass, but did not drink.

"So," she asked, making conversation, "how did the operation go?"

"Smooth," he said monotonously. "Despite the fact that Xu got in a dangerous situation, careful thinking and Irvine's precision were all that it took to…" He stopped, seeing that Rinoa was giggling. "What?" He asked, sort of irritated.

"I'm sorry!" She managed between small giggles. "It's just that you actually report to me as if I'm a general or something!"

Squall said nothing. Instead, he lifted the glass and drunk half of it in one go. Not feeling it's effects in the slightest, he looked at her once more. "Well, you heard whatever was worth mentioning. Mission accomplished."

"And no one was hurt, thank goodness." She said, reaching for a ring that hung from her neck with a silver chain.

"I guess." Another gulp and the drink disappeared. For some reason, Squall could not seem to discard the sour feeling that suddenly welled up in him. "I'm going to see downstairs." He deadpanned, and she nodded.

"I'll be right behind you."

The ex-SeeD did not bother asking which button to press. Under Rinoa's surprised gaze – he had just drunk the strongest drink known to her in less than ten seconds and yet he was not even wobbly – he moved in front of the jukebox, which had returned back to its place and pressed eyes on me twice. Immediately, he moved to the room 'downstairs'.

It had nothing to do with the bar upstairs. The room was thirty feet tall, and enforced with steel and concrete. _A bunker. _Squall realized. A billiard table had transformed into means of collecting data; newspaper clips, printed information, blueprints, and others. To a corner sat a medium sized television, and right next to it sat Xu with a desktop computer crafted from various parts; it was painfully obvious that they could not have afforded to buy an actual one. Xu was typing furiously at something she was engrossed with. Biggs and Watts conversed softly in their own corner, and Irvine was occupying a large space of the room with his exercises; shooting.

He had traded his rifle for two handguns, and kept each firmly in his hands, shooting professionally at one can at a time; he was shooting at the can, lifting it from its space, then shooting it again, continuing its crazy route, then again and again until it landed. Then he picked another can. Marlene was there next to Xu, watching her 'papa' with wide eyes. In order to prevent the sound from engulfing the chamber, Irvine had installed silencers on his weapons.

"Hey, Squall." Irvine greeted, stopping his exercise to turn at the ex-SeeD. "Were there any SeeDs at the reactor?"

The Gunblade specialist's answer came in a heartbeat. "No."

Irvine scratched his head. "How do you know?"

"You people wouldn't be here now."

Irvine left his weapons on the table and approached Squall with an angered look on his face. "Cut the crap! Do you think that just because you were SeeD you're something hardcore?"

Squall's response died down with the television's volume going up, courtesy of Xu. "Listen up!" She said.

The face of president Shinra filled the screen; behind him was the heading "Malfunction annihilates reactor." Shinra spoke swiftly and passionately, promising that the damage caused by the reactors "unfortunate explosion" would be covered in cash. He promised that the collateral would be increased and reassured the audience that everything was going to be alright.

The link died. So did the cheerful spirit in the room.

"Son of a…" Irvine started, finally turning to slam his fist on the wall. "Damn it! He covered it up!"

"But why, sir?" Watts questioned.

"I don't know and I don't care, Watts! All I know is that we're taking another reactor down tomorrow!" Surprised gazes fell on Irvine, who was clenching his fists so hard that his leather gloves squeaked.

Squall was the one to break the silence. "Whatever. We had a deal, Irvine. So how about I get paid so that I can be on my way?"

"You're going?" Zone gasped. Squall nodded.

"But you're working with us!" Xu tried, but the ex-SeeD shook his head.

"I _was_ working with you." He corrected the young woman, before turning to leave. Rinoa stood in front of him.

"Squall…" She whispered, placing a soft hand on his arm.

"Everyone leave the Shinra addict alone!" Irvine yelled. "He wants to go kiss their asses once more!"

Squall understood that Irvine was just trying to get under his skin. He also understood that his apathy to Avalanche's cause was the reason Irvine was so thoroughly angered. But being able to understand does not make you _understanding_.

"You can bitch and whine all you want, but that doesn't change anything!" He spat back at the cowboy. "I don't give a damn about Shinra or SeeD!" He turned and waved his hand angrily across the room. "But don't get me wrong! I couldn't care less for the Planet or Avalanche as well!"

He turned at once, and Rinoa hurried to get out of his way. Squall practically punched the button for up, and the machine began it's ascend. Once he was up, he rushed to the bar's entrance. He slammed the door open and had just walked down the stairs in front of the place when Rinoa caught up to him. Her eyes were moist, and she looked at Squall with an angered look.

"You know," she said before Squall could speak, "Maybe this was all a big mistake. I thought everything would work out fine once you joined us. But, I guess nothings that easy. You are hired. Paid to do things. It's not like you're one of us. You don't believe like we do. You said it yourself. You don't care about anything. So… You can probably think this is all a game to us… But it's not! We're serious! So serious that it hurts!"

Every single word struck Squall with the force of a brick wall. She had already ran back inside the room when he realized that Irvine was standing at the bar's entrance. He was holding a black wallet that seemed fat with cash.

"Squall, a promise is a promise." He seemed calm now. "Your payment." He tossed the wallet to the mercenary, who caught it with ease and pocketed it in his jacket's inside pocket. His gloved fingers remained there, and he fished out the small flower the girl he had saved earlier that day had given him. He stared at it.

"Fifteen hundred gil." The ex-SeeD deadpanned, before turning to look at Irvine. "I can help you with your next mission for two thousand."

Irvine's eyes lightened up. "Then come inside." He gestured with a grin. You and I have a lot to talk about."

* * *

Rinoa woke up with a startle. She thought she had heard noise from below, from the bar. Getting up and wearing the bottom part of her pyjamas, she headed downstairs and allowed her gaze to scan the room for the noisemaker. "Empty." She shrugged, guessing that it could be Squall from where he slept in the bunker. She was happy she had managed to change his decision and kept him with the Avalanche, and hoped for the best. She reached for the lights' switch on the wall and grabbed a glass, before turning at the counter where sat the faucet.

There, on the counter, was a glass filled with water, and in it was a delicate flower. The jukebox had just moved back to its rightful place. It seemed like a good way to say sorry. "Perhaps I should fill the entire shop with flowers…" Rinoa mumbled to herself. Finally, she yawned but couldn't help the smile off her lips. "You're forgiven, Squall."

* * *

**Author's Notes: **This is turning out to be more fun than I could imagine. Anyhow, to clarify things. The starting screen is obviously based on "V for Vendetta". Very good move. It's rare to see something based on Alan Moore's scripts being transferred on the big screen so well. In case you did not get it, Cid Kramer is Reeve, but don't worry; I don't plan him to get dressed in a moogle costume and start running around.

Moving forward, yes, another Matrix based action in the face of Squall using Haste. I guess that's what it must feel like, and I really tried to transfer it on words.

And the big surprise! Yes, unlike Daz and Peptuck, I gave Aeris' part to Ellone! Remember, I am trying to write originally; I didn't want to use either Quistis or Rinoa for her place, so Ellone it was. Moving on…

Rinoa is Tifa. In case someone asked why she's dressed in all black, it's because she wearing Tifa's clothes from Final Fantasy: Advent Children, albeit with a few changes (See: Angel wings). Let's see… Oh, and now, to explain myself once more.

That robotic maintenance excuse was pretty much bull, to be honest. I just did not want action to take greater part than the actual facts, so I chose to skip long action scenes (Not that I'm too good at that, but I try to make them work). If you want action, you'll just have to wait for one chapter.

Angelo will make an appearance on the next chapter, Angelo fans. :P So will my explanation to Squall's magic, materia introduction and other things.

Until next chapter, take care.


	3. Trapped!

_A blonde girl was smiling. The bully was punching him. Sephiroth was hacking his way at him and oh dear Hyne I'm going to- _Squall Leonheart, former Rank A SeeD and current unofficial resistance group member, woke up with a startle and a stifled gasp. It was _that _dream eating at him again. Squall removed his hands from under the comforting wool blanket that covered them and brought them to his face, where he sighed heavily and drawn out. "Good morning sleepyhead!" Came the cause of Squall's second startle in just a minute after his rude awakening, but he was focused enough to not show it.

"…Morning." He offered while tossing the blanket off of him. He got up on his legs, his eyes portraying an unhealthy amount of aloofness and frustration, all directed to an immensely exuberant Rinoa, who did nothing but beckon at him along with a still waking up Xu. The girl just nodded at him, clearly wishing she was still in bed. Squall ignored them, waiting to be spoken to – he was back into his militaristic behavior, something he had long since found out that helped him deal with people better. At least with a non-responsive person like Squall, they would decide to get to the point. Xu realized that fact much sooner than Rinoa, for she headed towards her computer and planning while Rinoa could only stare at Squall wearing his boots, shirt and jacket. Squall disliked being stared at, but he also disliked starting unnecessary conversations. "You're staring." He informed Rinoa, who blushed cutely and looked away.

"Um…" She stumbled between her words, much to Squall's – hidden – and Xu's – crystal clear – amusement, before exclaiming a loud "Be right back!" and climbing the mechanism to the bar.

From her corner, Xu snorted into her mug of coffee that she had been carrying. "I gotta hand it to you, Squally; you're the only one that can make her stop chattering away."

"Whatever."

Xu was taken back from that response, but unlike the other woman in Avalanche, she could handle herself against tough words. She cleared her throat, and decided to get to business. "Irvine wants to blow up reactor 3 today. What do you think?"

"If that's what he wants, fine."

"Drop the military ways and answer me truthfully, Squall. Do you really think we can pull this off?"

"No." A feminine eyebrow rose in inquiry, so the ex-SeeD continued, pulling his leather gloves on as he did. "Shinra will wait for another attack. Security will be doubled, tripled even – all personnel on deck. They won't risk losing more money."

Xu sipped at her coffee, and then hummed thoughtfully. "Then what should we do?"

"Stay low, do nothing. Once they're comfortable with what's going on, strike swift and hard – otherwise, it's going to be in vain." _Which I think is likely to happen no matter what. You just _don't_ fuck with the greatest organization in the world._

The elevator sang to life, _eyes on me_ echoing in the little bunker as Irvine descended with a large grocery bag hanging from his left arm, the Valiant proudly resting atop his right shoulder. "Not gonna happen." He deadpanned as he tossed the bag onto the table. With the hand accused of doing so, he pointed at the bag. "Cheeseburgers – the cornerstone of every nutritious breakfast. Hope you like them, 'cause it's all we've got, Squall."

Squall glared at the cowboy. "So last night's outburst was for real." He commented, ignoring the food for now and instead focusing on Irvine's dead serious statement.

"You bet your ass it is real, Squall! You said it yourself; swift and hard!" Irvine slammed the table with his fist for emphasis. "If we don't strike down, when their number are disarranged, when is it going to be? When all seven remaining life drainers are swarming with robots and soldiers?"

"I understand what you are saying." Squall offered. "But you're underestimating Shinra here; they will have doubled their security measures by now and-"

"Then we'll take them down." Squall opened his mouth to respond to the stubborn Irvine, who was faster. "I don't pay you to tell me what to do; I pay you to keep me and my friends alive."

"So you wanna play that card?! Fine!" the ex-SeeD spat, turning to Xu. "When the shit hits the fan…" He told her, anger in his usually passive features, "…blame _him_."

Xu finished her coffee, disliking how Squall had unknowingly involved her in the situation. "Don't worry, Squall, I will."

Irvine gasped, taking a step back. "You agree with him?"

"Yes, I do. It is dangerous. But right now we have the advantage of surprise. They _will _wait for us later on. Right now, however, they don't. We can still take down one, even two reactors! We can pass the message this time, call Shinra bullshiting liars right in their faces. Avalanche is real, and they're _not _a malfunction, you fat fuck for a president!"

Xu's loud exclamation did the trick. Irvine relaxed, a deep chuckle erupting from his lips. "Cool speech, honey. Alright, let's get serious. Squall, eat something now that you can; I'm going to call the rest of us so that we can develop some sort of plan." Seeing Squall's bemused stare, Irvine's spirits elevated. "I'm rushed and hot-headed, but definitely not an idiot, SeeD."

Squall dug in the fast food. "Good to know, cowboy." Xu smiled at the now cocky jabs between the two men. For now… All was good.

And so, hours passed easily between the Avalanche members. Ideas were swatted down in favor of other, better ones. Rinoa was proved to be a good strategist when calm, and responded to Squall's honestly curious stare with a calm declaration. "My dad taught me all the tricks of the art. He was… _is _a Shinra general." She smiled at him and discarded the subject with a wave of her hand. "We don't speak anymore. I don't like what he was doing." Finally, the plan was laid down and the tactics were explained. Another set of much needed equipment was produced by the ever crafty Xu, and the Avalanche members found themselves completely understanding what was to be done.

It was past sunset when the resistance group boarded the train destined to lead them to their destination. Since Xu, Zone and Watts were the most streetwise and inconspicuous of the group, the direct opposite of Irvine, Squall and Rinoa, they went ahead, blending with the bystanders heading to their works. The other three Avalanche members boarded the last wagon, which was the local gathering place for all sorts of junkies, homeless and other unlucky chums that could not fit in with the Shinra imposed society.

As they got on, the cowboy and the ex-SeeD tagged Rinoa protectively – none of them wanted some random punk having the "what is a beautiful gal like you doing with degenerates like us" talk, Rinoa especially. She smiled appreciatively at the unspoken agreement, and giggled slightly at seeing the six gang members occupying the last wagon hurrying to get off. Who would have known a Gunblade in common sight could cause such fear?

Irvine plopped on one of the leather sits and yawned loudly. Squall recognized the sudden sleepiness the cowboy was affected with, and blamed it on anxiety. From his right flank, Rinoa cleared her throat, getting his attention. "So, you want to make a sum of the plan?"

Squall nodded. At least it would kill having nothing to do until the train begun. "Exactly eleven minutes after the train starts, we hit the emergency breaks. Amongst the commotion, no one will notice six people jumping off and heading off towards the entrance vintage."

Rinoa punched the ex-SeeD lightly on the shoulder. "Didn't I tell you to not talk to me as if I am a general?"

"No. You just laughed and informed me of that fact." Squall deadpanned. Rinoa pouted.

"Never mind."

From his sit near the exit, Irvine laughed out loud.

Finally, the train began its slow ascending to the upper plate and sector 3. "It's time." Irvine and Squall chorused, amusing the ignorant of militaristic ways Rinoa, and timed their plan. Xu had perfectly synchronized the operation, so the trio waited in silence and agitation. Tonight, another of the Planet's burdens would disappear into nothingness.

Good riddance.

Squall decided to close his eyes and ride into oblivion, just for his adrenaline to flow normally…

* * *

Soldiers everywhere. Gore, blood, intestines, stuff that used to be _human _dropped all around him. Squall brushed a lock of deep brown hair aside of his eye and blinked the dust away – an act that was not a product of his brain. The reinforced material protecting his torso, legs and arms was secured and strapped, safe on him like a second skin. He was completely unaccustomed and unfamiliar to the feeling, used to the leather attire he sported usually. Instead of the cruel Revolver, Squall now carried a heavy machinegun – a relic from the wars that, despite its rare use, performed miraculously against flesh and tissue. He was sweating and his muscles ached despite no memory of having strained his body.

_What is going on? Is this a dream?_

A witness to actions uncontrolled, Squall kneeled down on soil watered with blood and brought a gloved hand to his ear, where a completely foreign earring resided along with a miniature, short-range radio. "Come in, Raven - over." While the ex-SeeD's mouth moved (scratch the fact that it was not of Squall's own volition), Squall was startled with the voice that actually erupted; it was deeper and with a different hue, much different from his own. The feeling was disturbing, to say the least.

"Loud and clear Ammo."

"The Wutai have wiped us man!" Squall's mouth spat, with an uncharacteristic tone of despair noted in the voice. The ex-SeeD, taking notes along the way, decided that he could not really call it his own body anymore.

"Shit!" Came the other line, a brash and loud voice. "Fall back! I repeat, fall back!"

"No need to tell me again!" The man hissed. Relief and adrenaline taking care of the details, he got up and dashed forward, thus missing the response of "Godspeed, Laguna." Squall, being the observer, did not. Was he able to do so, the ex-SeeD would have frowned in curiosity. Who was this "Laguna" character and why was he dreaming of him? Plants of various sizes and shapes were slapped off Laguna's way, who took no ill measures of leaving the machinegun off his hands.

A loud bang echoed from far away – another poor soul must have been unlucky. Laguna, to his credit, was careful enough to stop and aim around with his weapon. _So_, Squall noted, _this person is a soldier, a seemingly competent one when not cowering with fear. _Apparently satisfied with the result of his search, Laguna and his observer took off in haste yet again.

Laguna run through foliage and dry twigs without a care in the world. Apparently – for, despite seeing through the soldier's eyes, Squall had no listening of thoughts or other similar abilities; he was along just for the ride, it seemed – he wanted to get back to base or something similar. The soldier came to a halt as yet another loud bang, this one caused by a firearm, echoed through the empty forest. Laguna stopped his erratic movement and readied his weapon, holding it more firmly. Even to Squall, whose boredom had caused him to pay less attention, the shot had sounded uncomfortably close enough…

"DO NOT MOVE!" A man howled from Laguna's right flank, making him do the opposite of the demand. A face appeared through the foliage, and a man veiled with nature's soil and litter stepped forward. His accent was thick and the words somewhat strained – to Squall, it was obvious that whoever this new appearance was, he did not know the language very well.

"I could hear you breathing a thousand feet away, _Shinra _lackey!"

Squall instantly made the connection – the war between Shinra and Wutai. The venom in the man's voice when he spoke of Shinra, the different facial characteristics, the skin tone… The ex-SeeD's historic knowledge was good enough for him to realize that they were in the crucial part of the war, where the Wutai had turned from proud army to scattered rebels. It was not strange to him that every person to face Shinra was reduced to such status…

Laguna was not fazed by the man's intimidation, but aimed his weapon's lethal edge away from the man. "I'm afraid, sir…" Laguna started - his voice a whisper "that so could my friends." The man's widened eyes were not a product of successful scare tactics; it was made of surprise, all based at the huge _anchor _that had suddenly tore his solar plexus apart and rendered him soon-to-be-dead. With a thick splat, the Wutai rebel dropped on the floor, his now paralyzed legs unable to hold his torso.

Squall realized that Laguna was not a good soldier, if at all. His breathing was ragged, and his legs shook slightly but held. For a man caught up in a war to survive as much…

The train of unpleasant thoughts shattered at the appearance of the hulking man who – apparently – had tossed the huge metallic spear; from close, it looked like an actual ship's anchor. He was gigantic at both muscles and frame, and clad in the typical blue Shinra uniform with the pseudo-metallic chest, legs and arms protectors. The giant sported a blue rag on his blond head. On the right side of his face he was heavily scarred from causes unknown. He wore a beard around his chin alone. With a grunt of the titan, the harpoon was wretched out of the corpse and rested atop his right shoulder with a casualness not many possessed when it came to both huge weapons as well as maiming men.

"…Phew! Took you long enough, Ward!"

Ward's lips split in a child-like grin that somehow fitted him. "Sorry, Laguna, it was the best I could do. Nice remark you tossed the poor fella over here, by the way."

Laguna lifted his hand to scratch the back of his head in false embarrassment. "Yeah, I know! I thought it on the spot. Speaking of which…" Laguna glanced around, "…where's Kiros?"

"Taking care of the fella's pals."

Laguna winced. "Sucks to be them."

"Yeah."

The sudden appearance of a petite black man drew the two soldiers out of their humorous antics. He, too, wore the Shinra uniform, perhaps the smallest one they had in stock, for his frame and height were miniscule – he was barely above five feet in height, but despite that moved with the grace of a jaguar. He was wielding two bloodied _katars, _daggers created with the aim of both 'punching' and 'slashing'. Their lethality was not any higher than a common kitchen knife's, but when grasped by the man they both seemed and actually were deadly. "Kiros!" Laguna greeted, and the man nodded his greetings back. Kiros wore his hair in dreadlocks and was perfectly shaved.

"Everyone is dead – I saved them the trouble of starving to death."

"So it's true!" Laguna exclaimed, his loud voice somewhat echoing in the small forest clearing. "We're winning! We'll soon go home!"

"Anxious to see that special someone?" Kiros said in a teasing voice, tender with the casualness only really close friends possessed.

Laguna repeated the mock embarrassment of before, but his answer was buried under a sea of explosions that sounded not to far away. "Oh shit!" He yelled in sudden panic.

"Run!" Ward howled, grasping Laguna's arm and pulling him away from the sounds of war. Together, the trio run through the exotic woods like the devil was after them, not intending to stop until they dropped. When they finally _did _drop, it was near a small stream where they decided to rest.

Ward was the first to break the silence, the only one unfazed from the exhausting sprint. "That was insane!"

Kiros nodded, pushing away beads of sweat. "I had heard of the Wutai possessing such power, but to actually feel it?"

"Feel it?" Ward echoed, and Kiros nodded before slurping some of the fresh, cool water.

"Yes. Originating from Mideel, I have this… feel when it comes to the use of such energy." Kiros splashed some water on his face and moved under a tree's shade. Laguna, close to them, had closed his eyes and gasped for breath.

Squall, the eternal observer, absorbed every word the wiry man spoke of. "As it is, to see a spell being cast? To me, it is nothing. I can avoid it basing my movement on the…" He fumbled for a word, "ripples the magic leaves in the air."

"If you're used to it," Ward asked, "then why are you worried about the explosions behind?"

Kiros responded sharply. "Because what we were close enough to face was not magic, but rather its avatar."

"Come again?"

"As you know, we use Materia to cast magic, never mind offensive or defensive, right?" Ward nodded. "Well, it is known that sometimes Materia are bound to magical outsider that are, in a way, magic itself. I think that the explosions behind were due to someone using such a creature to win the war."

That caused Laguna (and, by default, Squall) to turn to look at his friend. "You think that this is what the war is all about? In order for us to get those summoned things and use them?"

Kiros smiled. "You are the reporter, my friend, you tell me." A healthy chuckle erupted from the trio, and Laguna finally decided that water was more precious than laying half-conscious under a tree. He approached the stream and splashed water on his face, mimicking Kiros from earlier, then gulped heavily. The procedure was repeated twice, and then Laguna waited, staring at his reflection.

Squall took notice of the man's face. Laguna was older than him, perhaps in his mid twenties. He was carefully shaven, and his long black hair dropped past his shoulders. He had bright emerald eyes, and that was what captivated Squall.

_I know those eyes…_

* * *

"SQUALL!" Rinoa was screaming her lungs out with fear and agony. The ex-SeeD's dreaming (or where they?) visages disappeared, giving way to a reality of red. The train's alarms were screeching, and Irvine had moved ahead to the door leading to the front wagons.

The mechanic voice was yelling "_Warning! Unidentified persons detected on this train, full person by person scan in progress. Warning! Unidentified persons detected on this train, full person by person scan in progress._" Repeatedly on the speakers, and Squall could not wonder anything else but what the hell had gone terribly wrong with the plan.

He grasped Rinoa, who was still shaking him despite his being wide awake and pulled her with him towards Irvine. "What the hell is going on?" He shouted in order to be heard over the noise, and Irvine turned to look at him with a grim look on his face and the Valiant cocked ready.

"Those fuckers added extra ID scanners, tossing our timing right out of the fucking window, Squall!" The cowboy avoided to say anything about him drifting off to sleep, Squall noted.

Rinoa grasped Squall's shoulder. "What are we going to do?"

"We get out of the train! I know the procedure; the robotic sentinels have already been called! We need to get going!"

Irvine nodded and pushed the door in front of him awake, right as the mechanic voice howled over in the speakers. "_Unidentified persons have been located within car number Six; this car will be locked down in ten seconds." _The cowboy gritted his teeth and aimed the first person to get in his way with the Valiant.

"Shit your ass down!" He warned, before shoving the unfortunate man back on his sit. The violent act was not without consequences, as the Shinra guard posted in the wagon ran at him, handgun in arms. Irvine allowed himself a cocky smirk; the man was playing _his _game. As the man cried warnings and orders, Irvine tossed himself forward headfirst and, halfway in the wagon, slid on the polished floor. The plan worked; the guard gasped in surprise.

With the guard's reflexes being slower than Irvine's, the cowboy elevated from the maneuver and used his momentum to slam the guard with his body. The guard quickly lost his balance and the two slammed on the wall, all of the impact absorbed by the dazed man. Irvine moved faster than any could see and slammed the Valiant's butt right on the man's throat, who gasped and lost consciousness.

"Score." Irvine whispered and moved the three feet required to open the door to the next wagon. The ex-SeeD and the barwoman followed right through the wave of stunned bystanders. Again, the voice sounded.

"_Unidentified persons have been located within car number Five; this car will be locked down in ten seconds._"

Squall frowned. Instead of a planned operation, this was quickly turning into a race against time. At least the computers were not fast enough in scanning them and performing the lockdown. The trio of rebels moved through the fourth wagon towards the other two and the actual engine, Irvine first then Squall and Rinoa lagging behind.

The sharp cry of "don't move!" took the two men by surprise; it had sounded from where Rinoa was following. Indeed, a guard had caught them flat footed and grasped both the opportunity and Rinoa by the hair. He was aiming the handgun at the young woman's head.

Curiously, Irvine was the one to not comply with the order. He spun on his heel right as Squall moved to the left side of the wagon, giving Irvine a clear way.

The guard stared at them with slowly widening eyes, not expecting the two men to show such a prowess. The hand holding the Beretta trembled with a sudden realization.

Irvine held the heavily modified shotgun with one hand, as his free one flicked the switch near the ammo holder from "Shot" to "Rifle".

Seeing how the Valiant was aiming at him, the guard managed one last gulp, his Adam's apple bouncing heavily.

Irvine pulled the trigger and the unfortunate man saw death.

Rinoa, unable to take the tension any longer, collapsed on her bottom as the civilians around the rebels and newly created corpse cried with terror.

Squall was there, pulling the frightened woman into his arms and from there on his torso, before forcefully dragging her through the wagon. "_Unidentified persons have been located within car number Four; this car will be locked down in ten seconds."_

Irvine finished the spin and run forward, momentarily losing his balance as the train sped up – it seemed that whoever was driving wanted to get closer to the checkpoint, where countless Shinra soldiers and robots would wait.

Squall did not miss a beat and instead held Rinoa closer as he run. In a way, he was making sure she would pass through the door and follow them.

The cowboy held his hat steadily on his head and dashed through the door, with Squall and Rinoa right after.

A man – probably another of Shinra's operatives – tried to grab the ex-SeeD with his arm, but the lockdown was performed right there.

The poor bastard, as Irvine registered him in his mind, fell on the floor screaming his lungs out and holding the spilling blood stump that used to be his arm.

The trio ran, Irvine deciding that there was no more messing around. He aimed high with the Valiant and pulled the trigger once more, awakening chaos in the third wagon. In the midst of screaming, running and praying passengers, the Avalanche member pulled through long before the scanners had time to locate them. They did not have to repeat the process with the second car, as Squall punched the guard waiting to ambush them with his enhanced strength.

They were right in the engine, surprised that three men were naked and unconscious on the floor in front of them. Rinoa was still panicked, holding Squall from his jacket's sleeve, who was beginning to get annoyed. "It's me, Watts, sir!" The man who Irvine was aiming screamed.

"Wedge? What are you doing?"

"Never mind that and jump, Irvine! We don't have much time!" The 'man' in the overcoat proved to be Xu, who covered her feminine frame with it. Zone was standing close to the engine, dressed as the actual train driver.

Irvine smiled as he realized what was going on. "You're some clever bastards, you know that?" He withdrew the Valiant, patting Watts on the shoulder as means to an apology and turned to Squall and Rinoa. "Alright, jump off; I'll be right there with ya."

The ex-SeeD nodded and headed to the door; Rinoa pulled him back, clearly in fear. Squall contemplated hitting her back to her cheery side, but decided against it. Instead, he grasped her from the arms and glared at her eyes. "What are you doing?"

"I-I c-can't let you do it! We're gonna die if we jump off!"

Squall conjured all his psychology lessons he had in SeeD and calmly responded. "No, we won't."

"Yes, we will! I don't want to die, I don't!"

"You will not die. You'll be protected." Squall offered, holding her less firmly now.

Tears welled in her Chinese eyes. "By who?" She asked, a sob wracking her delicate frame.

"I will protect you. I can withstand much worse than this. You'll be safe."

"I will?" She asked, her resolve strengthening a bit.

"Yes. I took bullets that could not stop me, magic to the face." He did not smile comfortingly, just decided on using diplomacy instead of intimidating her into doing what the Avalanche members needed her to do. "You will be safe."

"You promise?" She croaked, tears falling from her face."

"I promise."

She held the ex-SeeD close and asked him. "You _swear?_"

Squall was getting annoyed as he showed her his most sturdy face. "Rinoa." He said, his blue eyes piercing her own black ones. She finally nodded and smiled apologetically.

"Let's do this." She offered weakly, when Squall hugged her close and jumped off the train. Irvine approached the open door, from where the tunnel's darkness crawled inside. "Ah, to be young." He jested, before tapping his cowboy hat like a farewell.

The train rushed past the trio, Rinoa's fearful screams drowned under the screeching rails. As Squall saw the metal coming close to his face, he managed a bright but brief flash to escape his body and envelop both him and the woman in his arms. Together, the fell on the rails…

…And landed bare centimeters above them, completely safe.

Squall sighed; if the Eldritch around him had not informed him of the _Float _spell nearby they would have it really bad. As the train dashed forward and away from them, Squall turned in order to be on bottom and willed the spell away. With a grunt, he and Rinoa fell on the hard ground below. She had not witnessed any of this, as she kept her eyes closed. Squall allowed himself a satisfied sigh and tapped her on the shoulder. "You can get off me now, we're okay."

* * *

_Author's Notes_: A relatively small chapter, but I thought it was alright for a cutting point so that I can get an easier beginning come next time. What did you think? I did well? As a "side note", Laguna's appearance had more to do with the alternative storyline and less with the fact that "hey, they're on a train! Let's have our hero faint!" :P 

Rinoa being a weakling at this point of the story? You bet. While she junctions early in the FF8 game and becomes a relatively strong party member with her limit breaks and casting abilities, here she has nothing. And by that, I mean combat experience, don't worry. She will do her stuff come next chapter; the above was by no means bashing or w/e you call it. I do wish I could get the post-monsters speech she gave off at the end of CD1 somewhere, but I could not fit it in.

Anyhow, enough blabbing about. Cheers!


	4. Falling

_I've been slacking lately, work and all. _

* * *

The PHS rang tenaciously annoyingly, and the pain in President Shinra's throbbing temples was magnified. Sometimes, the president figured, he should have never had the Science department invent the little buggers. But _sometimes,_the President thought satisfyingly seeing who exactly was calling him, being able to be reached anywhere was a very nice merit. "Is it done?" 

"Of course, Mr. President. The ambush was executed perfectly; we have detected them in the tunnels below sector 3."

Shinra raised his cup of coffee to his lips and sipped a healthy amount of the invigorating brown liquid. "Schedule me a helicopter then, Tseng. I want to applaud them for giving me this sort of trouble."

"But of course, Mr. President. Anything else?"

The President scratched his chin, musing at how two extra martinis could lead to another two extra martinis and a hangover in the morning. He replied with another set of orders. "Yes, Tseng. Send Candice over – I need to appear immaculate in the latest news conference, where I will declare the jovial news of having found out that the terrorist attacks are now done for…" A pause, then…

"Of course, Mr. President."

Gordon Shinra flicked the PHS shut, before releasing the chuckle he had been holding back. A chuckle that came out as sinister laughing. "And that, gentlemen…" he declared to an invisible crowd, "…is how you do business."

* * *

The train sped through, the rails screaming under the force of its passing. The sound echoed through the dark walls around them, barely illuminated by the security lights. Finally, six wagons later and a blow of the train's horn, the trio of the Avalanche members found its peace in the gritty corridors. Silence ensued, with Squall gently placing Rinoa on the ground who, even after a whole minute of Squall's 'miracle' had passed, was still gaping. "H-how? How did you…?" She turned to look at where the train used to be, and then pointed at where Squall was still floating with a delicate finger. In Squall's opinion, she was starting to turn from amusing to annoying, but instead of telling that in the barwoman's face, he instead dispelled the Float and landed on the ground with a small grunt. 

…She was still staring.

"Holy Chocobo!" Was the loud exclamation that tore through the walls, accompanied by Irvine's footing. "How in a Girl Next Door rare issue did you do that?" The cowboy was grinning wildly, and his eyes glistened with what seemed to be amazement. He looked like a child being told that his birthday had come earlier this year.

Squall fixed his jacket to fit better on him with a jolt of his hands, and waited ten whole seconds before he decided that the two rebels would not stop grinning before he told them. "It's called Draw," he admitted, "and it's the sole reason of my casting spells with no Materia." He huffed, distancing himself from the others' close proximity. He had felt strange, being surrounded by such exuberance.

"Draw, huh? Can you tell us more?" Irvine asked. Rinoa simply nodded her approval of the question.

Squall sighed and rubbed his chin; on one hand, he wanted to get the show along, and on the other hand, these two would not leave him alone until "I'll show you. It'll be easier to understand." Once more, the ex-SeeD closed his eyes and reached at his surroundings with his Eldritch. It was like seeing the world with your eyes, yet not. It was like exploring with your hands, yet without the sense of feel.

Squall_reached_for the bright green Materia hatched inside the Valliant's hold. He felt the slight warmth it radiated, and recognized it as a low-power Materia which kept the spell of Fire. Thrusting his right hand to the front, towards where he 'saw' the bright flame's spark, he grasped at the fire mentally and then willed it to materialize, to form in a small ball in his palm. Swiftly, before something could interrupt the careful channeling he shared with the Materia's energy, Squall pulled his hand back and turned it to aim the wall behind him. The fireball was released along with a jet of green energy and slammed on the rough concrete, where its heat was dissipated with a hiss and a scorch mark on the wall. To Squall, the whole process had taken about two minutes of _thought._In reality, it had taken no more than five seconds.

Before either Irvine or Rinoa could get started, he turned to look at them with his neutral expression. "They taught me that in SeeD. In a way, you reach out for the raw magical energies your surroundings possess and use them to cast a spell. It's more complex than that, but we really don't have the time for more." Despite the protests the ex-SeeD's posture was giving off, Rinoa asked away.

"So that's why the Irvine's Materia gave off that bright flash and those lights left it to appear in your hand? Because you Drew at them?"

"Exactly, although I am still using my own magical energy to cast spells, not the source's, meaning that I can't go on forever. Earlier, I used a Float spell from a nearby source I managed to locate on the ceiling. Usually, only Materia hold offensive spells, while the random ones scattered around carry passive spells."

"Wait a minute… A Float from a source you _managed_to locate? As in, found by luck?" Rinoa yelled. Squall, being his aloof self, simply nodded. The barwoman could not suppress the shudder that crept from her spine to her neck in the thought of the Gunblade wielder not finding such a crafty spell.

"Anything else?" Squall asked, pointing at the right side of the tunnel – towards where they should be headed at.

Irvine nodded and held his rifle tightly. "Yeah. Teach me how to use this_Draw_of yours."

Squall shook his head. "It can't be taught. You are either born with this ability, like the mythical Sorceresses, or granted it through various means."

Irvine threw what Squall saw as 'temper tantrums'. "What the fuck are you talking about? You ain't no Sorcere_ss_, so the first choice is out of the window. So, what means were used for you to…?"

Squall glared at Irvine and cut him off. "None of your business." He promptly turned his back at the sniper and walked away, drawing his weapon of choice as he did so.

"Where are you going?" Irvine yelled after him.

"To the Mako reactor."

Rinoa fell into step behind Squall. "Why don't you want to talk about this, Squall?" She asked with a smile. Perhaps she could convince him to think otherwise…?

"Because I'm being paid to do a job, and that's it." Squall replied as Irvine grudgingly followed the two down the corridor. Deciding to lighten off the mood before he lost himself in thoughts, Squall said "if you continue, I might have to change my salary by the hour…" The Avalanche members following him made such faces that the ex-SeeD wished for a camera. It was not like it mattered, though. He would have to settle with photographic memory.

The trio walked down the railed halls, their senses on the ready in the case of –yet another- incoming train. They were walking fast, already four minutes behind schedule, and Irvine and Squall kept their weapons out. Rinoa was lagging behind Squall, keeping her arms crossed in front of her chest. "You seem cold, honey. Want my coat?" The cowboy asked, but the barwoman smiled and shook her head.

"Nah, I'll pass. The heavy coat is more of your style anyway."

Irvine chuckled softly, laughter that did not reach his serious eyes, and tapped his hat twice with two fingers. "True, it'd be injustice for someone as cute as you to wear colors not suiting you." Rinoa stuck her tongue out at him. This time his soft chuckle's euphoria was reflected in his eyes.

"Irvine." The aloof mercenary called back. "They are waiting for us." He pointed in the area more than three hundred feet away from them, illuminated crimson with the faint light the security lights shed into it. Four Shinra guards were patrolling leisurely, two of them sporting handguns and a single grenade while the rest kept heavy automatic weapons.

"Damn. What do we do now? Fighting them in such a close ground just isn't an option." Irvine turned to look at Squall, the ex-SeeD once more being all they had.

Squall leaned on one of the walls and crossed his arms, careful to keep the Gunblade's exploding tip away from him. He turned to look at the barwoman with a somewhat amused gaze. "Remember when you claimed that this was not a game for you?"

The two Avalanche members looked at each other, then turned to the ex-SeeD and nodded. "Yes?" Rinoa asked tentatively.

"Well, I'm afraid it's time to start proving it, Rinoa." Squall's azure gaze promised Rinoa that she was not going to like the plan he had formed…

* * *

"Hey, Johnson, the coffee you bought me tastes like crap." One of the guards called, tossing the offensive carton cup further away in the corridor. 

'Johnson' laughed. "Who said anything about me buying you _coffee_?" The first guard gagged, and the other three laughed at his demise. "I'm just kidding man, sorry. But honestly, what did you expect from such a hellhole like Sector Three?"

"They don't even have proper coffee? Where the hell did you buy it from, the slums?" The guard accused.

"I might have…"

The guard felt like tossing himself on the laser grid. "Oh man…"

"Excuse me?" A feminine voice called, causing all four guards to turn on their heels with weapons on the ready, much to their credit. "I fell from the train with the terrorists inside in a blind panic, could you take me to Sector Three?"

The guards relaxed visibly upon seeing the speaker. They saw a young woman who had raven-black hair, sparkling black eyes and creamy skin. Their eyes fell on her lithe but well-muscled body, her inviting lips and long legs that their male part wished that would cling around their waist. "Er…" Johnson managed to mutter, "hi there!"

"Hi!" She beamed back. "Well? Could you take me…" One of the guards gulped heavily, "…upstairs?" And then the abyss fell upon the guards, scattering them away like a house inside a tornado.

A streak of lightning crushed upon one of the guards with the automatic rifles with a happy, chirping sound that told nothing compared to the man's agonized screams. The second guard cursed with carrying a rifle looked down to see a CD-sized hole in his chest. He coughed blood and started his descend on the floor. The two others holding handguns raised them again in order to shoot, but the girl was faster than them. She pulled out her weapon of choice, a petite handgun that could be hidden in the folds of her shawl, and shot the left one in the shoulder. He fell down amongst a shower of blood, where he lay screaming.

The final guard would not return at his home that day, as a dark visage charged at him, sparks following at his wake as his Gunblade scarred the ground in his dash. He reached the guard, and he tried to aim with despair tearing at him, Squall cleaved at him from downwards, jumping as he did so. The result was a man most bloody that fell on the cold floor missing an arm and most of his torso. Rinoa gagged and turned away. "I'm going to be sick…"

Squall quickly approached the lone survivor of the group of guards and stepped onto his wound with an iron-toed boot. "The control center will contact you soon. You'll respond quickly and professionally, or broken bones and a permanently useless arm won't be your biggest problem. Do you understand me?"

Under Squall's heavy stomp, Johnson squeaked with a weak "yes!" The adrenaline in his body was all the kept him awake, and he felt like fainting any moment. Squall stepped off him and glanced back. He saw Irvine pulling Rinoa's hair back as she vomited in a corner. He shook his head, but did not comment on it otherwise. His attention was drawn back on the man, or rather, the man's radio.

"Answer the radio, and you had better remember our deal."

Out of fear alone, the man reached for the radio and pressed the button for 'receive'. A man's voice hummed through the speaker. "Come in, 316."

With strain in his voice, Johnson replied. "Th-this is 316, over."

"Everything alright, 316?" the man on the other side asked with curiosity etched on his voice.

"Not really…"

"What's going on?"

Johnson released a shaky breath and responded. "The guys tossed laxative in my coffee, over. Otherwise, it's all good."

"Stupid sons of bitches. Copy that, 316. Over and out." Johnson released the radio from his grasp, and it clattered on the floor.

Squall knelt next to the fallen guard. "What does 316 stand for?"

"Sector 3, group 16."

"Thanks." Squall offered, getting up and kicking at the man's shoulder with all his might –which, as he was junctioned, was much more than a normal man's- making Johnson scream in pain and faint. "We're done here, let's go."

Irvine turned his attention from Rinoa. "She's quite sick man, it's her first close-up with deaders. Scout ahead, we'll be there in three minutes tops."

"…Fine." The trio got separated as Squall did as he was told.

The mercenary walked softly, his own steps barely reaching his ears as the distance he was supposed to cover ended; he was in front of the laser grid that served as the world's greatest train stopper.

The tunnel which Squall had followed ended abruptly after a corner. A gigantic arch hugged the tunnel walls, and from top to bottom for every five centimeters, thick green beams of compressed light shot across its length and prevented everything from passing through. And it did so quite lethally, judging on the cut in half rat. The poor thing was probably trying to pass through the beams as they had been activated. Squall focused his attention to the side of the wall, specifically on a metal plate latched on the left wall ten feet away from the archway. The ex-SeeD grunted in disapproval as he saw that the trap that Shinra had lay upon them had taken care of the tunnel they were supposed to use as well.

Too bad they had not taken into account that a junctioned individual was among the rebels.

Squall placed his jacket and Gunblade away and knelt in front of the metal. Touching the ground, he concentrated upon the energy flux that was constantly being weaved underneath him and mentally pulled at it. He was rewarded with a flash of brilliant green as the force that he had just Drawn was absorbed by his enhanced body. Forcing that new energy into his muscles, Squall felt his muscles bulge and his arms jolted slightly under their newfound strength.

Squall pulled his arms back and shot them through the metallic plate, its density giving away under the force and the speed at which it was applied. Grasping forcefully onto the plate, Squall pulled back and tore the plate out of the wall with a cry of metal and triumph. It was done, as he tossed the metal on the rails behind him. Squall brought his arm and wiped sweat he had not realized was there, as he heard footsteps from the right.

Not taking his chances, he grasped the hilt of the Revolver as Irvine and Rinoa came into view. "Are you alright?" Squall asked the barwoman, who nodded.

"She's a little green – both in experience and in color, I'm afraid." Irvine said good-naturedly. "But she'll manage, she's a strong lady."

Squall nodded, before donning back his jacket and sheathing his weapon. "Let's go." As the ex-SeeD shoved himself into the now cleared, smaller tunnel that would lead them to the outer side of the plate and then to the Reactor, Rinoa groaned. "He's a machine."

Irvine nodded and helped her follow Squall. "A machine I'm glad we have on our side."

* * *

Xu unconsciously bit on her nails as she waited for Irvine, Squall and Rinoa to join her. Her paranoia was amplified under the fact that she was waiting alone in a completely dark tunnel, with only a glow-in-dark pen. The same that she had used to mark her passage through the tunnels she had taken so that her teammates could follow safely. She swore, if she _ever_found the one that had uploaded the map into the mainframe… 

"Careful, it's slippery." Xu snapped in attention as she heard the voice, distorted with echoing and the humidity in the air.

"_Shit!"_She hissed under her breath, drawing her handgun from the holster in the back of her waist. She had known that Shinra guards made patrols down there, but it was one thing to stand and hope that you wouldn't have to face them and another to actually have them walk up on you. Something that meant that she had to taken action. She inhaled deeply and then waited in the almost complete darkness. The others were approaching, she could hear.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Another asked, his voice brought to Xu much sooner than the first one had reached her.

"Yes."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because…" It was the first guard that had answered, pausing to emasculate the relaxation in the air. Xu tensed – the man was really close. She would have to shoot soon or face some major troubles along the road. With steady hands, she prepared to pull the trigger when a firm arm grasped both her wrists as she held her weapon ready and another tore the handgun from her fingers. With reflexes one could expect from the hacker's thin form, she shot her leg up but found herself recognizing the 'guard' in front of her…

"Squall?"

The man in question delivered Xu her weapon and lit up a small flashlight that he had in his jacket's inside pocket. From behind him, Irvine chuckled as he served to lighten the mood. "The one and only. Together with Irvine and Rinoa, he will save the world!"

"Not amusing." Squall jabbed as he turned to look at Xu. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. A little startled, but alright – I could have shot you, you know." She scolded the heedless mercenary, who shrugged the ordeal off with his usual aloofness.

"Whatever. Can you lead us through?"

Around Squall, all three Avalanche members sighed at what they should have learned to accept as typical of Squall. Xu gestured with an arm half-heartedly "Sure, follow me…" As they walked towards where Zone and Watts waited for them, Xu started explaining what had happened while they were away. "So after you three jumped off, me and the boys knocked some punks out and shoved them in the toilets skin-naked; we had taken their clothes. By the time Shinra actually managed to stop the train and start searching, I had managed to alter those guys' IDs and place our pictures over them – thank God that the alarm had already been triggered, otherwise the databases would've figured that lil'trick out before I could even blink. Sorry about the IDs failing in the first place, by the way. It's my fault."

"Don't worry about it, honey." Irvine comforted her, patting her gently on the shoulder. "You're one, and they're fifty fuckers crammed up trying to figure a way to outmaneuver you. It's more than okay. I know you won't let it happen again."

She beamed at him, and continued on as they came to a u-turn in the corridor. "Thanks. Anyhow, as I was saying, Zone has taken it up to him to secure the escape route, as usual. On the other hand, Watts has –yet again- managed to disguise himself as the overly polite, upcoming Shinra grunt and is probably hacking into the Reactor's computer's as we're talking. By the time we reach the hatch, its locks will be deactivated."

"Kick-ass." Irvine exclaimed, grinning. "Avalanche Shinra 1-0." Rinoa and Xu smiled along, the satisfaction Irvine resonated affecting them.

"Oops, here we are." Xu said as they reached a small hatch entrance, sealed shut with an electronic lock. As Xu knelt next to it, she entered a code in the small keypad and the hatch swung open. "Ladies first?" She asked, turning to look up at the rest of her group.

"For certain!" Irvine exclaimed. Both Xu and Rinoa rolled their eyes.

"Lecherous pervert…" They whispered simultaneously as Rinoa followed Xu into the dark passage.

The four united into a hanging platform about sixty feet long and ten feet wide, which lead to a case of stairs and then into the Reactor's bowels. "We're close," Irvine warned, "be careful – keep your weapons on the ready!" The others nodded and followed the cowboy as he treaded carefully among the machinery leading to the main pumps, where the Planet's life force was being treated and refined into Shinra's precious energy source named Mako.

Reactor 3 was an exact replica of the 1st one, from the ladders to the same sickness Mako radiated, to the same exact machines. As they reached the final corridor leading to the main pump, Irvine scratched the back of his scalp and looked around. "No guards? What the fuck?"

"Yeah, with the mayhem we caused yesterday, I'd have thought Shinra would be more careful with their playthings." Xu agreed.

"No matter." Irvine shook his head. "Squall and Rinoa, move ahead and place the bomb. Configure it for fifteen minutes, more than enough to get out of the hellhole this place'll become. Xu, contact Zone and have the escape route ready. I'll stick around and keep watch."

"Alright, good luck!" Xu said as she ran along a corridor to the left. Squall nodded and took the explosive device Irvine had produced from his coat and joined Rinoa, who had walked up ahead. Together, they walked in silence, the only sound accompanying them being their breaths and footsteps. Squall's footsteps suddenly reached his ears like throbbing bangs. His breath was drawn inside heavily, almost achingly. Dizziness obscured his vision as he firmly grasped the railing with his free hand and grunted as immense pressure pounded his head right behind his forehead.

"Squall?" Rinoa had stopped walking and had approached him, holding out a delicate arm to grace his arm. "Squall? Are you alright?" She asked again when he did not respond, and yelped when the mercenary fell flat on his face for no apparent reason. "Squall!" His name reached Squall faintly, covered by the deep sounds of his heartbeat. Was this yet another dream like the one he had about the Wutai wars earlier? He looked around him and to his surprise, his body obeyed his will.

Instead of a tropical forest, Squall found himself walking down a Mako reactor's corridors. This one had to have been a previous version of the ones Midgar used, since the machines and setting Squall had encountered so far was primitive at least when compared to the ones powering the sectors.

Squall entered the room before the reactor's 'heart', the place that contained all the delicate machinery. It was plain and existed only as a means of intuiting direction. Yet, instead of walking through the room, Squall paused and gazed at the figure kneeled in the middle of the room. She was a girl Squall did not know, he realized with a startle, yet she was familiar in a sense Squall could not put his finger around. She was younger than he was for two or three years. She had curly brown hair that framed her head and bounced up at her neckline. She was gazing at a body in front of her with emerald eyes and was grasping its hand with her petite arms that matched the rest of her also small frame. She was cute in an immature way, yet as Squall saw her he realized that she was torn inside; tears fell from her eyes and she was biting her lower lip to prevent the sobs from escaping. She was dressed in casual clothes, jeans and a tee-shirt, and wore a trucker's hat atop her head.

"Daddy?" She choked out, her grasp tightening around the body's hand. The man was literally sliced in half, his legs and bowels spread unnaturally on the room's floor. She shook her head, and tears fell on the floor. She closed her eyes and held the hand closer to her torso. "Sephiroth did this to you, didn't he?" Squall followed her suddenly snapped open gaze towards an immense _katana_that lay on the floor not more than a foot away. "Sephiroth, Shinra, SeeD! I hate them all! They'll pay for what they did to you, daddy!" With insanity wracked all over her features, the girl grasped the _katana,_which was two feet longer than she was tall, reaching seven feet in length, and run through the door leading to the reactor beyond.

Squall rushed in pursuit, and then stepped through the dream/vision and into reality with a gasp. "Are you okay?" Rinoa asked from above, and he shook his head. She kept a steadying arm on his shoulder.

"…I'm fine. It was probably the Mako fumes affecting me more than they should. Let's plant the bomb and be done with it." He found no reason to share that insane piece with her. It was not a matter of trust, but the usual bottling up. Why should he bother her with his problems? She had not bothered him with her own yet.

"Alright, then let's go." Squall approached the main machine and planted the bomb, configuring the timer for fifteen minutes. Soon they were running to the exit, Rinoa first and then Squall following. When they reached Irvine he kept in suit, and by the time they were out in the hanging bridge where Zone and Xu were supposed to wait for them, a replica bridge to the one in reactor one.

And then they realized that it was one of the cases that were rewarded with a 'shit hit the fan situation'. A squad of Shinra soldiers aimed every individual weapon of theirs at the Avalanche members. Even though all three of them had readied their Materia and weapons, it seemed too much like a lost battle with the entire bridge crammed up with shoulders waltzing in from both entrances.

Squall glanced at Rinoa, who was staring at someone among the troops. A man in red, who had dyed blonde hair and a thick mustache. A fat man who once ordered Squall.

_Shinra._

He stood amongst the soldiers like a holy man along his disciples, leaning on his cane with the confidence only a man on the top of the world could emanate. Shinra glared at the two Avalanche members with less respect than he would show at mud on his ten-thousand-Gil shoes. Then he looked at Squall, and his face brightened with barely constrained fury. "Leonheart.I should have known it was you, even though the list of candidates was high and mighty."

"Hello, Shinra." Squall spat back, grasping the Revolver more firmly. "I can say that the animosity is mutual."

"I'm ashamed to once have called you a SeeD, Leonheart. I really am. Instead of knowing your place and dying in the hills outside Midgar you have instead banded with common low-lives, hoping to become yet another Sephiroth – as if something like that is possible."

"_Sephiroth?"_Squall growled, but Shinra waved a hand dismissively.

"He is irrelevant now, is he not? So please indulge me _traitor,_ what is the name of your merry coterie?"

Irvine took the initiative and attention of a dozen automatic weapons. "_Avalanche,_you fat fuck! And don't you forget it!"

Gordon Shinra scratched his chubby chin in contemplation. "Avalanche, as in 'topple the Shinra off its throne', hmm? Cute, but I have heard of heavy metal bands with more influencing names. I have to admit that you are lacking a lot concerning publicity."

"Go to hell, Shinra, you murdering piece of trash!" Irvine spat, but instead of showing being insulted, Shinra chuckled.

"Murdering?" He asked. "Au contraire, I recall that you slew quite the innocents to get to your purpose and assault my integrity as the most respected person in Midgar. Did you even honor the men you killed? Did you even learn their names? Of course you did not; it would hunt you in the night, would make you toss and turn in your baby bed."

Rinoa lowered her head in shame, but if anything, Irvine seemed to be even more furious. "You're sucking the life off the planet! Murdering it so you can get money! Tell me, you greedy asshole, what are your Gil gonna do when you'll be on a barren wasteland?!" If Valiant was made of a lesser material, it would have bend under the strain the cowboy put upon it. Irvine's leather gloves were wrenched as he glared at Shinra, his words passionate and corrupt with anger. "Don't you fucking dare turn this on us! We only did what he had to do in order to save the world _you_'re trying to destroy!"

Shinra sighed and shook his head. "Such passionate words. It's truly a shame that they are distorted with curses and threats. You are boring me and, alas, I have a plane to catch; my escort waits." With a_snap_ of his fingers, the Shinra troops made way to a mechanical monstrosity. It was a GIM52A, an android eight foot tall composed of mechanical limbs of little delicacy, high tech circuits and all sorts of fatal weaponry. It was painted in a bright red color, possessed four amber tinted eyes that allowed it to aim with the three firearms it had at its disposal, and its exoskeleton would resemble that of a man in full body suit weren't it for the machineguns attached on the top side of his forearms, as well as the incredibly powerful multi-barreled machinegun mounted on its shoulder, which could load bullets from a highly stocked part on his torso. As a plus, the GIM52A possessed strength unseen even in a junctioned SeeD, ex or not.

Seeing movement from the soldiers, who were hurrying to the exits, Squall turned to his comrades. "They're locking us in – we need to deal with the android before the bomb blows up. Be on your guard."

Rinoa turned to Irvine. "How much time?" The cowboy looked at his watch as the stage was set, and the only ones remaining were the trio of Avalanche members and the android, who remained standing on the middle of the T-junctioned bridge. He looked grim as he gave the barwoman an answer.

"Three minutes."

Squall cocked his unique weapon, the Gunblade, awake and shot forward headfirst. Fast strides covered the distance between him and the GIM52A and the Revolver leapt forward into a jab at the machine's torso. The attack was parried effortlessly by the android's left robotic arm, and then its other arm covered its head to protect it from Squall's second, wide arcing strike. One of its eyes, composed of miniature cameras, detected Squall's open side, and exploited it perfectly. It's arm shot forward faster than the –normal- eye could see, but that was not the case with Squall; he parried with a twirling blade and stepped back five feet.

"Irvine! Don't let it aim with its weapons!" The ex-SeeD called to his comrades as the Revolver intercepted three more strikes. "Take down its eyes!" He sliced at the retracting arm, but the exoskeleton served as a shield against the cleaving. Irvine took the directions at heart as he motioned Rinoa at the retreating soldiers.

"Don't let them seal those gates!" He warned before dropping on one knee and readying Valiant for one bold aimed shot.

Rinoa nodded, her posture firm. "Got it!" She reassured both him and herself, and then run towards the fight between Squall and the Android.

Squall was working the Revolver furiously, parrying when needed and taking any chance he could find. The android swung its metallic fist at the ex-SeeD's head, but he ducked just in time – the blow was at his cascading hair. The Revolver shot at the beast's waist, but with uncanny reflexes the machine shot back. It _hissed_as it readied its machinegun at the running Rinoa, who screamed and cover her face. Squall intervened with help from Irvine – the ex-SeeD sliced at the GIM52A's torso, pulling the trigger as he did so, while the Valliant's triumphant shot struck at the machine's shoulder. It took a step back to regain its balance and sent its fist at Squall's head.

Squall hit the floor in a roll, tumbling forward and once again closing the distance. From fifty feet behind him, Irvine shouted at Rinoa to go on and prepared another shot. The Revolver slashed at the machine, striking its parrying wrist and blasting it apart with kinetic energy. Not losing a step in his dance of death, he shot the Revolver up with insane momentum and then chopped down with his enhanced strength. The android cried out in false pain as lost its limb. It did not have time to roar in defiance and counterattack as Irvine shot at its face once more, the hard exoskeleton taking the rifle's full strength and giving way to its destructive force; the android had lost an eye, but it was still deadly.

Rinoa managed to run past it and towards the retreating soldiers and Shinra, the latter still walking calmly as he passed the hissing, closing gates. She raised her handgun to shoot at him and end all their troubles but as she realized that she could not do it deep down in her gut, the doors slammed shut. _No time for tears, Rin, _her father's voice echoing in her imagination, as she turned on her heel and run to the other side of the bridge, hoping to catch the soldiers flat-footed and prevent their denying them an exit.

Squall hopped back and avoided the frenzied android's strikes, wondering for a moment how could a machine show such lust for combat. He did not allow the dark thoughts to faze him as he spun, the Revolver shooting at the android's throat. It crunched through metal with tremendous strength, decapitating the android and sending its head over the edge, to the slums below. Irvine joined the ex-SeeD, huffing as the adrenaline levels fell. "Hope it doesn't fall on anyone's head." He commented, but Squall did not answer. Instead, he run past the GIM52A, which was twitching like an ant in its death roes, and towards Rinoa.

She had succeeded, shooting blindly through at the gaping opening. The soldiers, sensing that getting shot was not a part of their contract, had run off. She beamed at the two men running her way, when the bomb detonated from deep in the Reactor's bowels, causing her to fall on her butt. Squall pushed Irvine forward, feeling that they had lost precious time. He did not want to re-experience the events from last night, when they had almost been burned alive. The cowboy tumbled forward, past the gate, and Squall prepared to dive after him as…

The wall directly opposite of the bridge's point on which Squall was standing exploded, white-hot flames destroying it entirely. With a groan of frustration, Squall struck his still unsheathed Gunblade at the remains of the bridge, where he laid hanging.

"Squall!" Irvine shouted. "Hold on! We'll haul you up!"

"Run!" Was Squall's retort as yet another explosion tore at the Reactor, wrenching the Revolver from where it had struck and sending Squall to the eternal darkness of the slums thousands of feet below. The last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him was Rinoa hanging from the platform and trying to reach from him. Squall closed his eyes gratefully and succumbed to his doomed fall…

* * *

"_Are you okay?"_ Squall blinked his glowing blue eyes, confused at the question. Was he hearing things? Was he not supposed to be dead? Was this it? As if to add insult to injury, the voice returned stronger. _"Are you alright?"_

Squall still knew darkness, but it was more welcome now, less cold and more enveloping. "…I think so. Where am I?"

"_Don't worry about that, just focus on staying alive. You can't always escape such situations with only scraped knees like back then, you know?"_

"Back then?" Squall asked. "What do you mean?"

The familiar voice shrugged his question off. _"Forget about that, can you get up?"_

"I…" Squall started, as he felt his arm twitch. "I could try, I guess…"

"_Alright then. Good luck." _

"What? Wait. What the hell are you-"

* * *

"-talking about?" 

He ached horribly. Every joint, every muscle, and every single move he did hurt him. He grunted as bright light tore at the domain of darkness that had settled upon his sight, and was grateful when a shade reentered his point of view and shielded him from the sun. Looking through his eyelashes, Squall looked at the face of a woman he remembered from his dreams. She was smiling brightly, more like grinning, as she held the sides of his face with her thin arms. "You're looking good for a person who made the world's greatest freefall, little brother." She greeted, and finally Squall blinked and settled his eyes on the woman he had saved from the thugs after his first mission with Avalanche.

A woman he had known from before, but was realizing that just now. A woman he used to adore and care for, a woman he had nicknamed "…Sis?"

If at all possible, the woman's grin widened even more. "Squall!" She cried with exuberance consuming her carefree, melodic voice as she pulled him abruptly into a firm hug. His senses were enveloped with her bodily warmth as she held him close, and his mind was hazed with the pain he still felt and surprise.

"Elle… Ellone, it's you." The name rolled of his tongue strangely, unaccustomed with the syllables. "It's really you." He found himself holding her close; he was incapable of believing that he had finally found her.

Ellone pulled back, her short brown hair waving and intermingling with Squall's. "Of course it's me!" She hugged him again, and kissed him on the cheek before resting her chin on his shoulder. His arms never stopped hugging her as his sore eyes took in his surroundings. He was in a church of Hyne. It was very high, with the roof – that was currently sporting a Squall-sized hole - easily twenty-five feet above him. On the ground he noticed seven rows of flowers that stretched from the edge of the flower bed he and Ellone sat on back towards the open entrance. Bright light penetrated his eyes, dazzled he forced himself to look above and saw a magnificent piece of architecture. The window was about nine feet deep and three feet wide. The glass was intertwined with pieces of meticulously crafted wires, and he was taken aback by the sheer beauty of it. For the glass had been colored in numerous different places and had a psychedelic effect as the street lights behind it shone through. "Wh-what happened?" He stammered. "Where am I?"

She released him and sat next to him, straightening her long skirt as she did so. "You're in a church in the Sector 3 slums. You crashed onto the roof and it collapsed under your weight and fall, sending you through. I think that it was the flower bed that saved you and destiny that brought you to me, Squall."

He got up, looking at her in amazement, before glancing around at the church. It was beautiful and aristocratic, but the most breathtaking sight – besides Ellone being there – were the flowers. They were incredibly healthy and pure, which was weird by all standards. Nothing grew in the slums; every piece of flora in Midgar was either a carefully grown plant in an expensive laboratory _or_a carnivorous mutation.

He felt the pain reside as the Guardian Forces inside him lived up to their body. His back, bruised from the fall, started repairing itself. His ribs and spine mended slowly as restorative forces took care of him. "Ellone." He felt a smile grace his features for the first time in… a long time.

"Still can't believe it's me, huh?" She smiled at him. "Me neither. And to think that our paths first crossed back in Sector One…" She chuckled as she straightened a broken flower, and then shrugged. "Well, I didn't have any chances to look at you then, and I had to take ten minutes of my time to simply gaze at you until I was certain it was you. You've grown beautifully, Squall."

Squall configured his junctions _just_to refuse his cheeks to blush. "I see that even optimistic Ellone has taken herself up to Midgar's challenges." He changed the subject as he saw a bracer in Ellone's left arm, from where twin emerald Materia shone.

"I got them yesterday as I left Sector One. They cost a lot, but I guess that a girl's got to protect herself." She replied playfully. "I also have another one, but it's just not working."

"Maybe you don't know how to use it?" Squall said, shrugging.

She shook her head as she also got to her feet. Her delicate arm went up to catch a small necklace around her neck. From it she picked a small ring, into which was grafted a crystalline Materia. "No, I do. It just doesn't do anything. I have it from, you know. _Back then._" Squall frowned. There was this mysterious 'back then' that he could not quite place his finger on. The ominous trail of thoughts dispersed as Ellone caught his attention once more. "So, what have you been up to?"

"…I became a jack of trades, a mercenary." He replied honestly.

She frowned in distaste. "A mercenary? Squall, you are destined to do so much better." She grinned. "How come you followed this line of work?"

"I only learned how to fight in my life, Ellone. That's my specialty. The only thing that SeeD taught me to do." He offered, gesturing vaguely with his arms.

"Sans the glowing eyes, hmm?" Ellone asked, but Squall did not reply. His attention was taken by the red haired man who had just walked in the church from the main entrance. He wore a black suit, and underneath his open jacket was revealed an unbuttoned white shirt. Green eyes shone with confidence as he snapped his fingers at a rhythm only he could listen to. Sunglasses were perched on his forehead, and his red hair was bright and long to his waist, caught in a loose braid.

The man grinned, revealing pearly teeth and snapped his fingers a last time. "Fuck me." He yelled as he laid eyes upon Ellone. He turned to look at Squall, who had stepped between Ellone and the man protectively. He was holding his left arm towards the man, ready to conjure magic on his side, while he had risen the right one to ward his sister from danger. "Fuck me _sideways._I thought you were dead, Leonheart." The man was brash and rude, yet emanated an aura of confidence, the same aura one could find only in seasoned warriors. And Squall knew from experience that the man in front of him was not just experienced when it came to fighting. The man was _deadly._

And Squall did not have the Revolver with him. He wondered briefly where it had fallen, but brushed that thought to the back of his mind. "Reno." He greeted back, his blue eyes glowing dangerously. Reno was a member of the Turks, Shinra's personal squad of assassins. Squall knew from experience that these men and women had only one creed; do whatever the boss says and keep your nose clean about it.

"Well I'll be damned!" Reno cackled with glee. "We follow one lead towards the person we're looking for and not only is our Intel right, _for once, _but we also find a man who's supposed to have died – again – about thirty minutes ago. This time I'm definitely up for a promotion."

From behind him, Ellone grasped his shoulder. "Squall, they're here for me! You need to help me!" She whispered in his ear.

The ex-SeeD nodded in confirmation. Now that he had found her, he would protect her to his death – even if she had not asked him. He glared at Reno, who snapped his fingers once, then twice. As if on queue, three Shinra guards, clad in the typical blue suit with the armored pads, rushed in. Each of them was carrying an MP5, and they waited for their leader to order them around. "Alright Squall; I'll toss you a deal." Reno shouted. "You go wherever and disappear as you leave the girl to us, or this gets nasty."

"I'll cut you a better one." Squall retorted. "How about you go play hide and go fuck yourself?"

Reno's eyes turned into thin lines as he produced a Stunner from his jacket. Stunners were a powerful piece of technology, used for dealing with enemies with the same tenderness a minefield showed to someone who did _not_tread lightly. It extended to form a crackling with electricity three foot long rod, and Reno started twirling it with deadly proficiency between his fingers. "Tsk, man. I thought you knew better than that. Now we have to go and drag you through the path most bloody." The soldiers around the Turk readied their guns, but Reno protested. "Use your globs. A hair ruffled onto the girl's head and Hojo will turn you into something drawn from a horror film."

As the trio of soldiers marched forward, producing melee weapons, Ellone pulled at Squall's jacket as the ex-SeeD prepared to conjure a magical ball of energy. "Not here!" She shouted. "You'll ruin the flowers! Come on, follow me!" She then proceeded to running towards the door next to the altar, which was leading to the rest of the church, dragging a disgruntled Squall with her.

Reno murmured something under his breath and followed them. As he reached the door Squall and Ellone had just ran through, he turned to look at the soldiers stare at him. "What the fuck are you waiting, a sugar cube for a job well done? After them!"

* * *

And there you have it. Another fine (not that fine in my opinion, but I did rather well in any case) addition to Crossing Over. Over and out. 


	5. Honey Bee Inn

"You're making us because you don't want us to ruin the _flowers_?" Squall asked incredulously, but Ellone shut him up with a give-me-a-break glare. The two were barricaded in the back room of the church, where priests would get ready for the various ceremonies years ago. It looked long abandoned, a complete contrast to the part where Reno and his men were now. Dust slithered around their legs, and broken furniture and ornaments were on the ground. Directly opposite to the door which they had blocked with an old sofa was a set of stairs leading to the churches upper parts.

"Life's not always about fighting, Squall." Ellone reprimanded, but Squall shrugged both out of habit as well as disagreement.

"Could have fooled me. Why are the Turks hunting you, in any case?"

She looked stunned for a second, before her eyes fell downward with sadness in them. "That is because…" But Reno had to crash the party, or rather, the door, but slamming his stunner on it. The electricity crackled against the broken wood, and his frenzied grin showed in the opening he had forced open.

"Heeere's Reno!" He screamed with joy written in his tone and features, as he slammed the stunner on the door again, slamming a new opening

Squall grabbed Ellone's arm and pulled her to the stairs. "It's not gonna last long!" He warned. As they climbed to the top, Squall paused in disbelief. "What is a rocket doing crashed through the roof?" Sometime before Midgar developed its slums and plate figure, probably during the war, a missile had crashed through the church's roof, reducing the entire first and second floor to rumbles. Bits and pieces of the floors were intact and connected by a wooden staircase, or rather whatever remained of it. In Squall's opinion, it looked ready to crumble under the lightest pressure. They were now standing in front of the ruined staircase that, at some point of its theorized 'torso', coiled around and lead to where the church's ground floor entrance would be. Light shone into the room from where the hole the missile had tore its way inside, but Squall saw something more than just a missile – he saw an exit. He pointed at it with his free arm and urged Ellone forward. "You go, I'll deal with this." He informed her casually.

"Squall, this is not the time to be chivalrous!" The young man had already turned his back at her, watching the staircase for when Reno and his men would start running up. Even with his back turned, the young brunette could tell that her brother was smiling with anticipation for the combat to come. She brought her hands to her chest in the imitation of a prayer, and whispered softly to him. "Be careful, alright?"

He had heard her. "Of course."

She disappeared through the opening in the roof, stepping lightly onto the missile. Squall was left alone, and he dropped into a relaxed fighting stance that would not tire his muscles as he waited for his opponents, who, judging on the running echoing from the ladder, were about to show…

_Now._

"Well." Reno sounded honestly surprised as he found himself staring into Squall's glowing blue eyes. "What's this, Leonheart? Covering for her?" When Squall did not respond, Reno tried a reverse psychology effect. "You know, you don't have to do this. All you have to do is step aside, and it'll all be alright, y'know? Just chilly."

"Get lost."

Reno waved his arms around in exasperation, the stunner crackling with the light movement. He turned to the three guards, who seemed winded enough from just running the stairs. "Get him!" Winded as thought they were, the Shinra guards knew better than disobey a direct order from a superior. Staggering, they ran on the ladder, towards Squall.

Squall reacted in an instant. He grabbed the front guard's wrist and pushed it aside, causing the punch he had just tossed to miss and shove up to the wrist into a wall, which gave out easily, scattering even more debris around the dusty room. The ex-SeeD brought his knee up into the man's untrained stomach and, from there he extended it to kick the second guard in the chest. As the second guard was knocked off his feet, Squall brought the palm of his hand up hard into the first, gasping guard's nose. Squall felt the bone break and the flow of blood over his hands. The poor man collapsed in a bloody heap on the ground. Squall grasped the man's MP5 hard and pulled, tearing it from his holster as he fell.

Exploiting Squall's occupied hands, the third guard who had just run up snapped his arm forward and grabbed hold of Squall who instantly pivoted on his foot and pushed the man's still aiming handgun aside. Squall fired the automatic weapon into the man's chest point-blanc and before the man could even fall, delivered a spinning kick to the man's chest. His rapidly-losing conscious body crashed on the wooden, semi-rotten railing of the ladder's remains and three stories below, into the basement, with a sickening crunch. Reno stood in shock as Squall knocked three of his subordinates to the ground (and worse) in less than a second.

Squall turned to face the second soldier, but as he did so, he noticed Reno, who had run up the ladders in the meantime, raise his stunner in an attempt to cave Squall's skull. Squall ducked under the Turk's attack, which in its inaccuracy slammed onto the first, still bleeding guard's head and ended his life. Squall kicked the stunner out of the Turk's arm, just as Reno retaliated with a foot that hit the back of Squall's knee. Squall fell forwards, losing the grip on his stolen weapon as he fell. Both he and Reno -clearly the most experienced of the group, since he actually had the experience to counterattack and stay up in a bout with Squall- were back on their feet in a split second.

"You're good, for a traitor," Reno carefully admitted. His eyes narrowed with determination. "But not good enough! Drop dead!"

Reno produced a Commando knife from a pocket of his suit and lunged at Squall. Squall instinctively spun out of the way, avoiding the blade by millimeters. He brought his knee up into the Reno's stomach as he passed, then spun on the spot and delivered a spinning kick to the Turk, sending him crashing into the wall, two feet away – not too far away from where his now deceased subordinate had stuck his arm moments ago. Reno recovered quickly. He grabbed his stunner that lay nearby, and sent it zooming towards Squall with a furious cry. Squall dived out of the way, tumbling along the floor, kicking up heavy amounts of dust. Squall could feel debris scraping painfully against his skin as he slid along the floor on his bare arms. He grabbed a derby and tossed it at Reno. The piece of cement hit him in the stomach and he collapsed in a startled heap. As Reno tried getting up, forcing himself to focus through the pain, he realized that a speeding black object was coming towards his nose.

The black object was Squall's boot, junctioned and driven with rage. Reno was out before he knew what hit him. So was Squall, who promptly turned away from the unconscious bodies and out of the church.

* * *

Ellone was sitting on the roof of a broken down house, gasping for breath, when Squall landed directly next to her in the crouch of a hunting mane. He smiled apologetically for startling her, and then moved closer to her. "Sorry." He offered to her, who was grasping her chest in mild panic.

"Don't do that again!" She warned, but then her handsome face darkened as she noticed the blood smeared on Squall's hands. "Are they…?"

Squall answered as soon as her question trailed off, shrugging his shoulders in the process. "Reno is sporting a broken nose, but he's relatively unharmed. This doesn't apply to the soldiers."

Ellone was unreadable as she asked what was prominent in her mind. "How come Reno's alive?"

Squall didn't answer that for a second, instead taking notice of his surroundings. They were atop the metallic sheets that composed a house's roof. Looking at all directions revealed heavy amounts of similar garbage. To a bystander, they would have looked like two survivors of a shipwreck on a raft, amidst a hostile sea. He could see a slum village to the far… _probably west. _People were off living their lives somewhat peacefully. He remembered what Irvine had told him just a day ago. _"__Sometimes, you love your home no matter how corrupted it gets."_

It seemed that the cowboy was right. Squall found himself disbelieving that he had heard these words just a day before. With that in mind, he turned to look into his sister's eyes. "I don't enjoy killing, Ellone. Just because Shinra made me what I am today doesn't mean I get to do what they want."

She smiled at his carefully developed response. "You've grown, little brother."

He huffed and turned his gaze away from her, back to the distant slum village. "Whatever." Her giggles informed him that he was being childish, so he sighed and joined her where she was sitting. "Why was one of the deadliest men in the planet chasing you anyway?"

She shook her head, her short hair flailing along. "I don't know what you're talking about, Squall."

He carefully placed his hand – the one that did not sport the dead guard's blood – onto her shoulder. "Ellone, I was an A rank SeeD. Trust me when I say that details don't elude me."

She turned abruptly, surprising him, and grinned cheekily. "Maybe they wanted to recruit me in SeeD! I do have what it takes!"

Squall frowned at the obvious lie but did not push the subject, instead choosing to play along. "You ran for three minutes, tops, and you're out of breath." He deadpanned. "You'll have to tell me at some point, Sis."

"Oh, look at the time! Mom will be worried!" She jumped away like a wildcat and started jogging towards the slum village. She waved from where she had landed. "Squall, hurry!"

The ex-SeeD looked at her running carefree. She was his Sis, the one he had subconsciously searching for all these long years. He had known one thing for a fact, and that was that both he and Ellone were orphans. She had been struck with that title long before him. So…

_Who is Mom?_

* * *

Reno stirred. 

Slowly, he recognized the copper taste filling his oral cavity and throat. He groaned on the ground, more irritated with the state he was in rather than the fact he had lost.

His PHS rang.

Spitting the blood in his mouth, and thinking that he would have to fix his broken nose before or after a drink or two, he flicked it open. "It's Reno."

He heard the question from his superior, and winced – the boss wasn't going to like this. "We found her but someone else interfered, I'm afraid."

He obeyed the 'explain' command. "Leonheart. He survived the explosion and somehow crashed into the church, if the second hole in the roof's an indication."

Reno sighed at the full scale rant on the other side of the line. "Well, the little runt is a fully trained SeeD. Look – yeah, I know that's not an excuse. He took us by surprise is all. Well, how would you act?"

The Turk spent a full minute listening to an explanation about tactics. "Alright, alright. Sheesh! We'll find the Ancient, don't worry about that. We still know where to find her after all."

He wiped the crusted blood from his nose on a sleeve and responded to his superior. "A new assignment, eh? Okay then, patch me to the president."

* * *

The pair walked into the town, and the way the various bystanders greeted Ellone warmly while giving him curious stares made Squall feel like he was in an old Western film. As Ellone and he walked past the single bar of the town, he almost expected the Sheriff to slam the doors open and walk out in order to give the newcomers a speech of how "this is my town, fellas. Be good or be dead."

"Excuse me?" Ellone asked, driving Squall out of his reverie.

Squall groaned and planted his palm to his forehead. "I said this out loud, didn't I?"

The girl just beamed at him warmly as opposed to openly confirming.

"It's from an old Western movie, the ones from before the Wutaian war that the Television used to show." Probably the same movie that had gotten Irvine so hooked up on Cowboy hats. "This place reminds me of it."

The slum village was quite different from the one in Sector Seven where Avalanche was based at. It gave of a really bad feeling, and the poverty was so easily recognized in that place that Squall felt genuinely sorry for all those people. Impromptu houses were located in random positions and concluded of various materials and items. One of the houses was a huge metallic pipe with curtains on each end. Not far away from the path the two had been following was located a trailer park filled with trailers that were certain never to move inches from the spaces they occupied.

Ellone nodded as they walked up a small path leading to a nice two-story house, probably the one she was living in. She looked back at the village for a second. "Yeah, this place does give such a feeling." She looked back to where they had walked from. "It looks bad, but good people live here, Squall. We're a strong community." Then, leaving the sad story behind, she boldly walked into the house and announced her presence by yelling loudly: "Mom, I'm home!" Squall awkwardly followed and stepped inside, noticing the flowers.

_I thought that Midgar's slums did not support plant life? _He wondered.

The inside of Ellone's house was quite exquisite for the place that surrounded it. A red carpet decorated the floor, while a polished dinner table, set with chairs, stood proudly in the middle of the room. At the other end of the room, a ladder was leading to the upper floor. It was nicely polished and well-taken care of as well. Pictures of bawls filled with fruit, as well as a younger Ellone standing in the garden outside with an older woman were the main set of the living room. "What do you think?" The ex-SeeD registered Ellone asking, and he responded honestly.

"Cozy."

"Why, thank you, young man. But who might you be?" Both youngsters turned to look at the woman who had spoken. She was middle-aged, but she kept well. Her hair was a bold brown, and her face had wrinkles of worry until she saw Ellone. Judging by her apron and wet hands, she had been doing house chores, probably washing the dishes.

Ellone was the one that responded. "He's Squall! Remember when I told you about him, mom?"

'Mom' walked up to the warrior, who stood in the middle of the living room awkwardly, and formally bowed. "It is a pleasure to have you here, my daughter's brother."

Squall earnestly blinked his glowing eyes and scratched the back of his head, feeling a sense of Déjà vu as he did so. "Pleasure's all mine…?" He felt rather annoyed when he saw that the woman had turned her back on him and was talking to Ellone in the middle of his phrase.

"So," she was asking, "were you chased again? You're never usually this late."

Ellone blushed and started blurting out the story in a tempo that Squall found difficult to follow. She practically chirped like a bird, gesturing with her hands as she explained to her mother how Squall had crashed through the roof and saved her from the big bad Shinra men. The way she put it, though, he was shown as more of a comic relief element, rather than her one and only hero. "…And so he tripped, making a barrel fall on them as they ran, and they all fell under its weight. We used that chance to escape."

The woman smiled and turned back to look at Squall. "You're dirty." She deadpanned. "You both are. I insist that you stay here and wait for me to get some fresh towels for you to shower. I will be right back." With that declared more sternly than a declaration of war, Ellone's 'mother' walked up the stairs and disappeared.

Squall stood dumbfounded. "What was that?"

"Oh, that's just my mother, Elmira Gainsborough. Don't mind her; she's usually like a typhoon of authority. In all the years I've known her, I'm the only one to ever give her trouble."

"How come you didn't tell her the truth?" Squall asked earnestly.

Ellone appeared crestfallen. "She has something against the military and killings. It's better to make a joke out of it than tell her that her daughter's little brother has no qualms about killing-"

"Ellone…" Squall started to complain, but the young woman shut him off by placing her palm over his mouth.

"_-even_if it is to save me." She finished, releasing him.

Squall changed the subject, but the one he decided to tread in was not much better. "So she adopted you?"

Ellone's cheerful aura flickered away like a candle in a thunderstorm. "Something like that, yes." She changed the subject by bringing up Squall's unique position. "So, what are you going to do now?"

Squall frowned. With the appearance of his Sis on the scene, the mercenary found himself unaware of what to do. "Well, I have to get my gunblade back, and eventually head to Sector Seven." Ellone tilted her head to the left in curiosity, asking him to continue with her body language. "There's a bar there, the Seventh Heaven. I need to go there."

Ellone nodded. "I know of it. Apparently it's the best place in town if you want to get a good drink."

Squall shrugged, remembering of Rinoa's drink and the look in the woman's face as he downed it without even feeling its effects. "I wouldn't know about that." He answered mischievously. "In any case, my employers reside there – I need to tell them of my fate and miraculous survival."

"Employers?"

"Avalanche. Before you ask, blowing up the reactors is their way of bringing change. I don't really agree with it…"

Ellone smiled at him. "I'll make a pacifist out of you yet, huh?"

"Sure you will. Anyhow, I need to get in touch with Irvine and Rinoa."

Ellone blurted out the one question that she really needed out in the open. "Who's Rinoa? Could it be that she's the one that got you in Avalanche in the first place?"

"Maybe."

"Is she a friend?" Ellone asked out of curiosity. When the mercenary did not respond, she proceeded to deepen her investigation. "Is she your girlfriend?" Squall's nod caught her breath in her lungs. "You have a girlfriend?" She asked in disbelief.

"I'm serious."

She shook her head in amazement. "Wow, I don't know what to say."

"I'm seriously joking."

Ellone punched him playfully on the shoulder. "Cute. You're sleeping in the guestroom, by the way. Smartass."

Squall could not help but smile genuinely.

* * *

Dinner was pure excellence. The shower that followed it was even better. The bed he laid on, covered with warm blankets, was a reward from Hyne himself. _"I haven't slept in a bed like this in a while…"_ Squall's eyes snapped open. The voice was definitely male, so it could not have been Ellone or Elmira who had said that. _"…Except from back then." _

Drowsiness overcame him, so Squall just replied with a satisfied "Yeah, I guess."

Memories consumed him, and Squall found himself back _there,_looking at the eyes of a familiar woman. "I'm worried about you, Squall. Sometimes you hide too deep inside yourself. I think…"

"I'm alright, you don't have to worry."

She continued heedless of the interruption. "…I think that you should find a girlfriend, you know. Leave the past behind for once and move on."

Squall turned side on the bed and grunted an annoyed "Whatever." as he hugged himself under the blankets, keeping the memories away. Morning found him in the same position with open eyes staring on the wall. He had not allowed himself to see another dream.

* * *

Ellone woke up greeted by sweet smells from the kitchen. Donning a robe around her feminine curves –and ridiculous pajamas that she just refused to let go- she walked down to the living room only to find Squall cooking. Her voice clearly startled him, but she was too surprised not to joke. "Squall, I'm surprised. You can slice, dice, cook and kid around? Boy, you're priceless."

The boy in him refused to blush. The man just smirked. "Yeah, well, you should get used to it, Sis. SeeD demands that we learn various social subjects, from cooking to cleaning our own mess to dancing." He grabbed a plate, filled it with the scrambled eggs and bacon (courtesy of Elmira's funds and slum-bred chicken and swine) and gave to her as she sat on the table.

"Dancing, huh? I'll hold you on to that one." She grinned mischievously as she took a bite.

Squall looked disappointed as he explained. He had not expected Ellone to take that kind of approach to his skills. "Approach your target inconspicuously at a dance party. There may be missions requiring this kind of subterfuge. It's expected of a SeeD to learn various skills."

Ellone chuckled. "So it is work related? That's too bad." Figuring that Squall was not one for chitchat, she pointed at him with her fork and asked him what he was planning to do next.

He closed his glowing blue eyes in concentration, figuring the best approach on the subject, but there was only one thing he could do. "I still need to find my weapon. After that, I'll head to Sector Seven."

It was the girl's turn to look disappointed. "Oh." Her brown eyes twinkled in a way that Squall found himself envisioning the cogs turning in her head. Before he could say anything, she exclaimed loudly. "I'm coming with you!"

"No."

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

"…And dangerous."

"You don't know the way." She countered.

"I'll find it."

"You only met with me and now you want to leave me?"

Squall did not respond for a full minute. Then, placing a palm to his forehead, he rested his head on the table and looked at his sister tiredly. "You play dirty, Sis."

"Look who's talking!" Ellone laughed. "You would never accept that you were 'it' back in our games even if I shot you!"

Squall grunted something nasty. "Eat and get dressed, inform Elmira, whatever. Just get ready."

"You won't regret this, brother." She leaned above the table and kissed him on the cheek, before disappearing on the top floor.

Despite her exuberance, despite her actual combat skills –Squall did not doubt that she knew to use her Materia- despite the fact that he would take care of her… Squall could not shake the feeling that he would regret taking Ellone with him dearly.

* * *

"But we can't just leave him!" Rinoa protested, but Irvine just shook his head and kept his rowdy response to himself. He crossed the train station to the waiting train's last cabin and moved in the compartment. Rinoa followed, sheathing with anger and worry. 

The two sat in silence, with Irvine looking anywhere but at the black-clad girl and Rinoa staring right at him. "You can't be serious about just leaving him behind!" Rinoa stated after several minutes of silence, during which the train still accepted its passengers. Irvine stayed silent, and Rinoa prepared to send him in the guilt trip of the century.

"And what the hell do you expect me to do, Rin?!" Irvine snapped back. "We're no good to Squall even in jail or worse, in a coffin, courtesy of Shinra!"

"I don't care!" Rinoa replied, shaking her head forcefully. "We have to go back to the reactor and search for him!" When Irvine grumbled, before reluctantly shaking his head, Rinoa walked to the door of the compartment and leapt outside. Irvine gasped in surprise and ran after her in pursuit, but realized that she had just walked thirty feet away and was now watching him with arms crossed in front of her chest while glaring daggers at him.

"Rinoa-" he began.

"We're going back." Rinoa declared. Irvine sighed at her stubbornness.

"Squall will be fine. He was a SeeD, okay? He probably used his what'cha call'em and floated midair again until he hit safe ground!"

"You don't know that!" Rinoa protested loudly. "Squall may left himself fall, saying no one's ordered him to save himself. We have to go find him, make sure of his whereabouts." Okay, so the dig at Squall was a lie, but it got the message across nicely. "Can we at least go to the slums?" At Irvine's reluctant nod, she grabbed him by the sleeve and rushed back to the train, before pushing him into the compartment.

"Hey! No pushing, and - ow!" Irvine groaned as Rinoa pinched him in the ribs – stronger than needed. "Hey! Quit that!"

"Say you agree or I'll continue!" She threatened as she pinched him again.

"Okay! Okay! Stop that!" Irvine pleaded. "We'll go find Squall, okay?!"

The two dropped back on a seat, and Irvine sighed before straightening out his messy hair, courtesy of Rinoa.

"Look, I was gonna go back anyway after I got you out," Irvine explained, which surprised Rinoa. "So you wouldn't have to see the results in case he didn't make it. But since we're in this together," he said, rubbing his aching ribs, "we'll go find Squall." She beamed at him, and everything was okay. "Now to deal with one last thing…"

The passenger that had just got in was clearly listening to their conversation. He was clearly a rat – a fact that was proven by the fact that he had been following Rinoa and Irvine boldly for the last twenty minutes and not at the least unnoticeably. Apparently, he was there only for observation, not combat, and clearly ill-trained in the matters of failure.

…As proven by the fact that he soiled himself when Irvine and Rinoa pointed their guns at each of his eyes and asked him to "Squeal, piggy." He fell to the floor, whimpering, fear reducing him to a sorry excuse of a man.

Irvine slapped him across the face. "Snap out of it and tell us who the fuck sent you to spy on us?"

"D-Don Corneo did!"

Irvine grinned promises of agony. "Go on…"

* * *

Ellone and Squall walked into the downtrodden Sector Six slums, a pitiful place that had not harbored life for a few decades. It was reduced to a sea of garbage and mutations. Thankfully, the latter did not prove to be much of a problem, since Ellone's Fire Materia and Squall's Draw ability kept them at bay. All that prevented the monsters from heading to its neighboring Sector slums were the gigantic walls that separated said sectors.

The couple finally reached the exit of that forsaken place, and looked generally satisfied about it. Sector Six was definitely a sour place to stay in for long. "A shame we did not find your Gunblade, Squall."

"It's alright." It clearly was not, but Ellone would probably not understand what it was for a warrior to be left out without a weapon that he felt like a part of his own body. He figured that to her, it was probably like walking out of the home naked, but kept his mouth shut and walked into Sector Seven along with his sister.

Her happy exclamation and sudden running away snapped him out, and he discovered that Ellone still had a little girl in her as he watched her ran towards an abandoned playground and rode a slide styled out to look like a Moogle. "Squall, come on!" She waved at him, so he slowly walked towards her and joined her atop the gigantic head.

"This place is kinda sad without children playing, isn't it?"

Squall nodded as he surveyed the place. To the far left, he could see the Sector Seven gates and the walls that kept them up, that stretched far away, leading to a place which was dubbed "Wall Market" by graffiti.

"So, Squall, any cool story you want to share with me from back when you were in SeeD?" She asked him, leaning her head on his shoulder. He looked embarrassed by it, but made no movement to object to her.

"I…"

_Fires. Pain. The screaming. Oh Hyne, the screaming… The dying children and the-_

_REUNION_

"…No, I wouldn't say there were any."

Squall felt the muscles of her face shift up in a grin. "You're quite secretive, aren't you?"

"It's not that."

She looked up at him and patted an unruly lock of hair out of his eyes. "Then what is it?"

"…Bad memories, I guess. Stuff that you know you'll never forget, and that you see with every blink you make."

She did not say anything. With the lack of natural light, the siblings lost track of time. They just sat there, comforting each other in the sad, devoid of life and laughter playground. They snapped out of their personal thoughts when they heard the Sector Seven gates start grinding open in order to let a salvaged and repaired car pass through. It was not the sight that made Squall jolt like an electric current passed through his spine –many underground movements were able to get their hands on one- it was the fact that he saw black hair with caramel strands framing a familiar face with Chinese eyes decorating the back seat of the car better than a work of art. It was the fact that he saw Rinoa being taken away by a man that he did not know, nor was informed about.

He whispered her name in surprise. "Rinoa?"

"This is your friend?" Ellone asked as she jumped to her feet. "What is a pretty girl like her doing, going to the Wall Market? Doesn't she know that place is dangerous?"

Squall did not know of that fact. "What?"

Ellone confirmed it with a short nod. "Yes, it's because of Don Corneo, the one that runs almost all business in there."

"Who's Corneo?"

"No time to explain, let's hurry!" She carefully jumped off the slide and ran off, Squall easily catching up with her as they followed the car's tracks into the Market. The village was a maze of hundreds of electrical and neon lights of every conceivable color. Vendors could be heard hawking their wares from dozens of tents and stalls, and the streets - which were anywhere between the various buildings and tents that gave enough room to move around - were crowded with people. Diners, clothing shops, even a weapons store existed in that place. Every type of vendor greeted the pair as they walked in the Market, from illicit plunderers that sold the various products of their theft to prostitutes of both gender. "We need to find your friend, Squall. It's not safe here." Ellone warned as she clung near the ex-SeeD.

Searching for Rinoa with sight alone was not good enough. Finally, as they stumbled by a dead-end road which was filled with men waiting in line, Squall's mind feared for the worst. "Ellone, wait here and be careful. I'll go check this out. Use your Materia if you have to fend for yourself."

She nodded and waited under a street lamp post while Squall made way towards the entrance of the place that had got his attention. The "Honey Bear Inn" was probably the best and most respected brothel in the Wall Market. Squall hoped that if Rinoa sought to get in that place, she would have a good reason to. None of the 'customers' stopped him from going to the entrance, since Squall, with his intimidating appearance and ruthless demeanor, was definitely not one to be trifled with. The bouncer stopped him from getting in by stepping in his way, but that was that. Even he did not dare to try and manhandle him like he did to the other wimps that waited to get inside.

"I've got business inside." Squall lied.

"Business, huh? Is that so? Whom do you have business with then, little dude?"

Instead of replying with a childish response, Squall crossed his hands and glared daggers at the man. If looks could kill, Squall's would have evaporated both the man and the building behind him. "With the Don, you degenerate. Do I look like the salivating mongrels that you harbor here?"

The man looked more than apologetic and even frightened. "Sorry, sir. I'm just doing my job!" He profusely begged. "But the Don is not here! Apparently, he received a new hot chick called 'Rinoa' and he wants to, hmm, test her, you know?"

Squall gulped his worst fears and continued his role-playing. "Then where the fuck is he? I'm a busy man."

"Oh, you can meet him in his Mansion on the top of the hill, yeah! Just follow the main road and walk up, sir, then tell her that Treno sent you!" The man grinned, feeling that the worst had passed.

"Fine. I'll go meet him there." Squall angrily replied and stomped off, grasping Ellone by the hand and pulling her away from the bunch of clowns that had noticed her. As the two walked away from the "Honey Bee Inn" Squall told Ellone what he knew.

She gasped. "Test her?!"

"Yes. But that's not what worries me. It's the fact that Corneo's probably working with the Shinra." He earnestly answered.

"How do you know that?"

Squall glanced back at her and beyond, back to the street that lead to the brothel. "Lots of Shinra personnel walked in during my talk with the bouncer. This means that either Corneo's doing favors to Shinra or that they are mutual co-workers."

"I see, but how did you know they were Shinra?"

"Did you see their costumes?"

Indeed, every man that had walked in had been wearing expensive suits and shoes, and most of them had PHS and classy watches. If you took the worst case scenario –like Squall had done- they were definitely friends with the Don.

In their conversation and dash through the village, the two reached the Don's "mansion", a tribute to bad taste in decoration. Even Squall could not hide his disgust. The "mansion" was twenty feet tall, probably composed of two floors, and painted in a gross shade of red. All around the yard Squall noticed statues of women in lewd stances and decorations of dragons. In front of the door, that also featured dragons and naked women, stood a brutish thug in guard duty.

"I have business with Corneo." Squall deadpanned.

"Most people do, pal." The guard responded.

"Treno sent me. I'm here with the girl."

The guard grinned lecherously. "Then why didn't you say so? Come on in!"

Squall had started to suspect that every person in the "Mansion" was either a prostitute or a man worthy of a Gunblade blasting through their throats. Grasping Ellone by the waist protectively, they walked in, hoping that they were making the right thing…

* * *

_Inspiration knocked my door again. I know it's not much (and not that different from the original story and concepts) but I honestly had problems with my decisions of role assigning, since suddenly some things don't work as good as they would in the original story. Rinoa in place of Tifa means that she's not Squall's childhood friend and thus will not be in Squall's story in Kalm. I finally worked things out, decided that I will NOT go back and edit, and that I'll continue the story no matter what. Sorry for the delay, whoever expected an "update soon plz" type of thing. _

_One last thing; Squall is missing the Revolver because I had him do. Until the next chapter... _


	6. Don Corneo

_It's amazing what lack of interest from the readers can do to the writer. But I guess that it's the same for the lack of interest from the writer. _

* * *

The house was a living hell, devoted to tormenting everyone with actual eyes. If the yard outside looked bad, then the manor's inside was a pathetic excuse for a place to live in. Squall and Ellone walked carefully side by side. A sudden, unfamiliar awkwardness, loss of their goals and not knowing exactly what to do disabled both of them. Ellone stifled a gasp as a gaunt man slithered into the room through a dark hallway. He was wearing mandarin robes and kept a long, yellow with nicotine mustache, which hung well below his bony chin. His beady eyes seemed to be devoured by the thin, wrinkled flesh around them, and his smile was something drawn from a perverted, fevered dream. Despite his grand posture and steady walking, the man's dilated eyes and heavy breathing betrayed his situation. Squall's glowing eyes narrowed. The man was intoxicated - probably with opium, if the smell of the mansion had anything to say about it.

"A SeeD?" The man muttered in genuine curiosity. He had spotted Squall's unearthly eyes and responded likely. "Is President Shinra too bored to join us in the hellhole that he has created himself, hmm?" Squall opted not to reply. The inquiries he had to ask would both reveal him as the rogue ex-SeeD that he was and probably compromise Ellone's safety. However, the questions continued to plague his mind and served only to intensify his worry about Rinoa. Was this man Corneo? Did he know where Rinoa was? Was he the only one to greet them?

"Speak, SeeD, and trifle with my patience no longer. Why do you seek to see the Don?" The mandarin's long, slender fingers rose to sweep through his moustache. His other hand, still concealed within his silk sleeve rose to show at the stairwell leading to the mansion's second floor and into a closed door, most likely where the actual Don resided.

One question answered, it seemed. It still did not help in forming an alter ego into which he would hide, but if Squall was good at something, it was showing his prevailed indifference. "I've come to speak with the Don, of course. President Shinra is interested in his report."

The wild chase seemed to be right on track. The man's fingers twitched as they swept through the mustache and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Very well, SeeD. What about the slut, though? Why have you brought her?"

Squall thought about disemboweling the dirty old man in front of him, but Ellone next to him helped him focus. He was unarmed, his spells were limited and he felt no Draw points anywhere around him, and when time came for the shit to hit the fan Ellone would be caught in the middle of it all. He had to come up with something fast. He opened his mouth to speak, make it seem natural while in truth he planned to stall time, delay him until he could figure something, anything out, when a henchman spawned from where the mandarin had originally crept up from. "Sun Ho, she is bathed and clean, ready for the Don." The muscled man eyed Squall, but said nothing more.

The mandarin, whose name was proven to be two rather simple syllables, grinned widely, revealing his teeth. "Good. Bring her up." Sun Ho seemed to remember his original question, and glared at Squall, annoyed that the man had come up with a delay. "Well?"

Ellone, in a surprising tempo brought up either disgust with the man or anxiety as to 'who' exactly was the one the henchman had talked about, walked up to the man and slapped him soundly. "Know your place!" The man seemed as surprised as Squall, even if he did not notice the ex-SeeD's look of shock. "We're both SeeD, and that's all _you _need to know, Sun Ho." She looked like she wanted to say something more but decided against it, her brown eyes softening up as she backtracked to where she originally stood next to Squall, who was decent enough to decide to wait for them to be private before commenting on her behavior.

Sun Ho blinked once, then twice. "Very well, SeeD. We have received a new girl today, and the Don seeks to test her before allowing her to join the ranks of the other prostitutes. He does that with every girl that makes his eyes twinkle… Like you," he promised Ellone. "But I guess he can make an exception and wait a bit, no?"

"Yes." Squall took up the initiative and spoke up. "Now lead us to him."

"It is traditional for the girl to be presented to the Don first, even if they do not join. Such a ritual has existed long before the days of the Eastern civilizations; it originates from Wutai, and compared to it, your pitiful Hyne counts to nothing." The elder stood his ground, especially as he taunted the Western deity.

Squall brought up an arm and channeled energy from the only place holding magic around him; Ellone's Fire Materia. Holding a materialized ball of flames in his palm and aiming it at Sun Ho, he threatened him. "What good will traditions do you if I choose to blast you across the room, old man?" _Shit has just hit the fan. _A small voice whispered, but Squall quashed it.

Sun Ho lowered his own arms in a non-threatening way and locked eyes with Squall. "Enough with the bravado, young man. I can read you ever since you walked in the room, and I know that you will not kill me, out of fear. Fear that your pathetic _President_ might reprimand you, I take it? Or is it something deeper? Nonetheless, I will lead you to the Don; but first, he will meet this new girl, Rinoa – then, you will have five minutes to talk, and that's it – you will then wait. How does that sound? Good? Bad? Do not answer. It does not matter, for no matter what you say, it is the only favor you will receive from me."

With the air returning to the place once occupied by fire, Squall extinguished the flames and allowed the energy providing for it to return where it once came from. "Fine."

Sun Ho grinned with his nicotine teeth. "Excellent. Bring the girl forth!" He called to the henchman, who bowed respectfully before leaving the room. The trio waited in silence, Ellone clenching Squall's arm protectively despite knowing that their supposed 'cover' might be ruined by such a meek action, and the two men staring at each other disdainfully.

With the sound of a gong, Rinoa walked into the room. She was wearing a traditional snow-white kimono, decorated with ornamental red roses. Drawn onto the kimono was a Chinese red dragon whose head rested onto her buxom as its fiendish body rose above her left shoulder and fell back down her spine before running around her waist and down her right hip. It was a bit too snobbish, but suited her nonetheless. Her hair was free and cascaded around her face. She lacked makeup, and her eyes were wide upon seeing the scarred ex-SeeD. He gave her the look he preserved for everyone. Meaning, he simply stared at her, expressing nothing with either his face or his body language.

"Now then, shall we rise to meet the Don Corneo?" Sun Ho snapped Rinoa out of her reverie and started walking up the stairs, holding the barwoman's hand by the elbow as he did. Squall and Ellone hurried to follow him, noticing that the henchman had disappeared back into the room from which he came.

Squall briefly wondered if Rinoa would be able to cover Ellone when battle broke in the Don's office, but those thoughts seized as he sensed a powerful presence with his Draw ability. Someone in the room was Junctioned with a Guardian Force! He glanced at Rinoa's back and then at Ellone who walked timidly next to him. Things could go very wrong if he did not win the initiative once they started fighting… The door to the Don opened with another ceremonious gong, and Ellone rolled her eyes – the traditional sound was being played by speakers on the corners of the room.

The Don's office was a testimony to humankind's falling. Bad paintings covered the walls, satin curtains of a deep purple color fell to obscure the back wall of the room, and an expensive looking office stood in the middle, behind which sat a short fat man with a blonde Mohawk. He was dressed with crimson red robes sporting the acronym DC on the left side of the chest, and wore a white shirt and jeans underneath. He sported a short goatee and his eyes gleaned with anticipation, lust and, of course, drug consummation. He was not alone in the room – four others were with him, all dressed with buggy clothes and wielding Katana swords. Tattoos obscured any skin from showing in the henchmen's arms.

"I am Don Corneo. I bid you… welcome." The drug lord said after a moment of thought. His words were slurred and thick with uncertainty. Even if Squall did not kill the obese man right there and then, he would die via self destruction in a matter of years. Corneo's eyes fell on the nervous form of Rinoa. "Ah, Sun Ho… You always look after me, do you not?"

The Mandarin bowed to his boss. "Of course, my Lord. Allow me, however, to offer my sincerest apologies and deep remorse for having to keep such a delicacy away from you for just a moment – these SeeDs seek to speak with you about your imminent report."

"It's coming along the way." Corneo answered. "Now send them off. I seek to be alone with this beautiful rose."

"Squall, are you ready to take them on?" Rinoa suddenly whispered; her voice was unheard with everyone's attention being on the Don's actions and the low beat music sounding over from the speakers.

Squall thought of it. It was now or never. "I don't have a weapon," he replied after a second, "but I'm sure I can deal with them."

Rinoa's hand slid into the slit of her Kimono, and suddenly she had produced a handgun. "Squall!" She yelled, as she offered it to the ex-SeeD.

Immediately, unerringly, deadly, the four henchmen in the room sprung into action. "Gun!" The cry was unnecessary as they showed unparalleled skill that one could not see in men supposedly heavy-set with drugs and alcohol, yet here they were, ready to slice through the feeble opposition Squall was prepared to offer. His opposition being feeble only to untrained eyes. The only one who actually knew he could and would take the sword wielders down was Squall. The first one to reach Squall unsheathed his sword and swung it down at his head with unerring speed and accuracy. For a moment, it seemed like the ex-SeeD would meet a pitiful end.

For a moment.

Squall ignored the blade as he grabbed the man by the shoulder and broke his arm in two different pieces with only two subtle moves. His movements flowed into each other as he shot his elbow back without even looking and caught the henchman attacking his back right in the face. The man fell back, unconscious, and even as he fell Squall had moved forward and grabbed the third attacker by the wrist with his free hand. His fist shot forward and helped in collapsing the man's larynx. The fourth seemingly flew through the air with his katana flashing. Squall drew the third man's own blade and used it to decapitate him so cleanly that the man had the chance to take six clumsy steps forward before blood even showed where Squall had cut his throat entirely. Squall then moved to the first henchman, who was still wracked with agony from his broken arm, and drove the 'borrowed' katana through the man's chest.

In real time, neither of the other four alive persons in the room hadn't even realized than no more than two or three mere seconds had just passed. Squall grabbed the berretta Rinoa was still holding up and aimed it in Sun Ho's face before shooting him twice in the forehead. Not even a drop of blood had stained Squall, even though the same could not be said for the rest of the room.

Don Corneo kept staring from where he sat, his mouth hanging open. In swift moves, Squall had dispatched four of his best guards –people that were worth their weight in Gil, handpicked by Don Corneo himself- as well as Sun Ho, and the young teen hadn't even faltered. But Corneo was not easily discouraged from something. Even if this 'Rinoa' girl had managed to set an ambush, a good ambush, if he had to say so, he was still junctioned. With a snarl, Corneo rose from where he sat. "You're good, SeeD. But I'm good as well, and good enough to see that your two sluts aren't that good in combat – their delicious squeals were music to my ears."

"You're in no position to make statements, Corneo."

"Aren't I?" The Don chuckled, and in mere moments, the person that he once was disappeared, leaving behind the birth of flames. _It was him who was junctioned after all_, Squall chastised himself.

"Rinoa, take Ellone and run. I'll take care of him." Squall said, drawing one of the scattered swords on the ground.

The girl looked torn. "But Squall…"

"He is junctioned! Just run out of here and protect her!" He raised his gun towards the pillar of flames that had covered Corneo – whatever it was that Corneo was summoning, it had something to do with fire. His Draw ability would be useless, but with luck Corneo's GF would carry a different essence of magic that Squall would be able to use against him.

Behind him, Rinoa discarded her kimono, revealing that she was wearing a pair of black khaki shorts and a white tank top underneath. "I'm never going undercover again…" She muttered, grabbing Ellone's hand. "Come on, you heard Squall!" She yelled as she pulled the startled woman towards the stairs. No sooner had they run out of the room and near the mansion's exit that Corneo's office exploded with brimstone. Squall was tossed aside by the force of the blast, but before he could end his short flight, a hellish arm reached for him. Squall managed to unload a few chambers from his gun onto the creature's face, but it was for naught; the only thing the bullets did was bounce of the demon's hide.

The being that Squall recognized as Ifrit caught Squall by the leg and shot him towards the mansion's outer wall with enough force for the wall to crack spider webs. The girls screamed his name, but he waved them off. "Rinoa, I told you to run."

"_**They are going to die no matter where they run to, mortal. My master commands it.**_" The Guardian Force was huge, twice Squall's height and, if it were flesh and bone as opposed to magic and fire, would have weighed at least ten times as he did. The demon stood on thick, dog-like, heavily muscled legs. Ifrit's chest was muscular and massive, at least six feet wide. Its fingers and toes were tipped with black claws, and its hide was a dark brown, as if singed by the flames from which the demon had spawned from. Its growling visage looked like that of a hell-spawned lion, and a pair of huge, slender black horns rose from the top of its head and curved back, extending out for nearly two feet each. The Guardian Force had a long red mane that ran down its back and a short red beard around its jaw line. Ifrit's eyes glowed yellow, like molten gold, and had no irises or pupils. Its voice was booming and echoing, and it seemed to block out any conscious thought out of their minds.

"No." Squall seethed, and suddenly he was on the move, crossing the distance between himself and the GF in mere seconds. The katana he carried stabbed at the beast's chest, but the maneuver served in nothing more than angering the beast. A simple swat of Ifrit's left hand sent Squall crashing away onto an expensive vase and the wall behind it, but his junctioned vitality and stamina drew much of the force; he was merely winded from the hit. He shakily stood up, and then looked back at the demon just in time to receive a powerful blow to the jaw from Ifrit's left hand – the beast was not as powerful as one would have expected, despite its stocky frame. Squall could survive Ifrit's onslaught, but with his consciousness focused on Rinoa and Ellone's wellbeing he was being drawn into a corner; literally.

The hit knocked him up into the air, and before he could register the change of gravity around him, Ifrit struck him again with a powerful punch right in the solar plexus, shooting him onto the wall hard enough to spread cracks through it where he crashed. The katana fell from Squall's hand with the force of the strike, and as he prepared to gracelessly drop down from where Ifrit had had embedded him into the wall, he realized that Ifrit was still holding him up in the air with his muscular arm.

Ifrit's chest rose and fell with laughter. "_**Goodbye, mortal.**_" Where the GF was holding Squall there now was unreleased flames. With a forward jolt of his arm, Ifrit unleashed those directly into an unsuspecting Squall, finally leaving him to fall down. With a snort, Corneo's Guardian Force turned its attention to the two girls, its amber eyes gleaming with predatory anticipation of the kill.

With a grunt, Squall grabbed the fallen sword and stabbed Ifrit in the ankle with it. The beast rose at its full height and screamed more in protest than in pain, but it gave Squall an opportunity that he was going to exploit. From where he still lay still on the floor, the magical energies he commanded were unleashed in a display of bright white lights, before they surrounded him fully. Seeing the look on Squall's face, Ellone squeezed Rinoa's arm and started running out of the mansion, pulling the barwoman with her.

Next to the entrance of the mansion, a thermometer's marking dropped to the lowest degree.

Right in front of the opposing GF, a shard of ice broke the wooden floor and rose up to the ceiling. Ifrit's amber eyes widened in recognition of the new foe. "_**You?!**_" Inside the shard slept a woman of pure white. With a sharp crack the icicle shattered, the parts forming it falling everywhere in the room, revealing the naked woman's shape. Her hair seemed to flow like water, and her eyes seemed frozen. Shiva reached for the stunned Ifrit with her hand and placed it on the beast's chest. A mere second later, a wave of absolute frost struck Ifrit in such volumes that his flames were extinguished; even the air around him seemed to freeze. Shiva paused for a second, seemingly enjoying her work, and with a smile she snapped her fingers. The result was explosive as the ice all around Ifrit shattered, taking chunks of the GF's 'flesh' with it.

"_**He could summon you all along?**_" Ifrit mumbled tiredly as he breathed heavily.

Shiva smiled timidly as she levitated midair.

"_**Then why did he not?**_" Shiva's arm extended to the two women observing the fight in the middle of Don Corneo's yard. She said nothing. "_**The women…**_" With a roar, Ifrit's flames awoke and covered him whole, burning him completely until he disappeared. He was defeated.

Shiva turned to look at Rinoa and Ellone. She smiled at them as her form seemed to freeze entirely, until she was clearly ice. Ice which, in a violation of physics, transformed into water and splashed onto Corneo's ruined carpet, releasing the magical energies that held her summoned in this plane of existence. Reappearing where Shiva formerly stood, Squall groaned and tiredly got up.

The two girls rushed to help him. "That was awesome! How did you do it?" Rinoa asked.

"Same way I survived a five hundred feet fall." Squall deadpanned, as he drew the handgun she had given him. "Let's go and tackle Corneo before he can have another chance to summon Ifrit."

The trio run into Corneo's office right as the man drew a shotgun from the safe that used to hide behind the painting of a naked woman. "So you wanna play rough?" He screamed. "Well say hello to my little _unf!_" Right as the Don turned to shoot at them, his face met Squall's gloved fist. His head crashed back at the wall, and in the confusion Squall grabbed the shotgun from his hands and turned it on its owner.

"Now then… Rinoa, what did you want with this sad excuse of a man?"

"Well, after you fell we found a spy hounding me and Irvine. With our unique Avalanche ways, we got him to squeal that Corneo had sent him." She paused for a second, making sure that Squall was still with her, and then went on. "Irvine wanted to go ballistic on that piece of trash, but with his type of money buying him guns and goons, I asked to take the subtle approach. And here I am, clearly out of my league." She finished, pointing at the dead hitmen on the ground.

"You're all out of your league!" Corneo screamed. "Do you know who I am? I'll-" The shotgun's handle hit Corneo onto his nose, cracking it. He started wailing in agony.

Squall grabbed him by the shoulder and aimed the shotgun he was holding at the part of the male anatomy that Corneo thought most important. "Shut up, we're asking the questions. You get two options, 'Don'. Either you talk, or I shoot them off."

"No! Don't! I'm quite, uh, attached to them!" He placed his hands over his crotch protectively. "It was because I was ordered to find the cowboy or the one with the gunblade!"

"By whom?" Ellone asked with curiosity etched in her voice.

"If I tell you, I'll be killed!" Corneo nodded negatively.

"Well, if you don't talk," Rinoa threatened as she picked up one of the fallen swords and carefully swinging it around, "I'll _chop _them _off_."

"Aaah! It was Heidegger! Heidegger of the Public Safety Maintenance department! He wanted to know where you guys hid at!" Corneo wailed.

Squall shook the Don and renewed his aim between the man's legs. "Why? What are they planning?"

Corneo shook his head. "If I talk, I'm a dead man! My word will count for nothing, my bank deposits will have no value, and if the Turks get their hands on me…"

Ellone channeled the magic in her Fire material, holding a burning hot sphere in her palm. "Why worry about the Turks when we lunatics here can do bad things to you _now_? Speak, Don, or I'll _burn _them."

Bluff or not –Ellone had made clear her distaste for the sad excuse of a man- it worked. Tears ran down the Don's cheeks as he squealed. "They're gonna crush the entire Sector! They're blowing up the pillar holding the Sector 7 plate up and high! They'll wipe the entire slums!"

"What?" The two women exclaimed. "Shinra wouldn't dare!"

"Oh yes he would! You guys have been a tremendous pain in his ass in just four days, so he wants to crush you! And crush he will!" Corneo yelled. "Now please don't kill me! Please!"

Rinoa discarded the sword and moved to the exit. "We need to warn everybody!"

Squall nodded and pressed the shotgun's trigger. Blood splattered on the wall, and it was by chance that the Don had removed his hands from over his crotch, or he would have lost them as well. "Piece of trash." The ex-SeeD spat, before pushing the screaming Corneo to the ground.

"Let's go!" Rinoa yelled. "We have to hurry!" She and Ellone prepared to run, but Squall waited, his attention fixed to the desk. "Squall?"

A proud smile crossed Squall's face as he reached for a set of keys on the desk. "We don't have to run, at least." He replied to their unasked question. "Keys to a car." He made a move to toss them at Rinoa, but his vision suddenly doubled. A heavy load obscured his thoughts, and his knees buckled.

"Ellone…"

His eyes closed.

* * *

His eyes opened.

He was in a restaurant, along with the gargantuan Ward and the elfin Kiros. They were equipped with their army uniforms. Mass quantities of food dominated Ward's side of the table, while two glasses of whiskey graced Kiros and Squall's. _Only this is not my hand bringing the drink to my lips. I'm dreaming of being that moron again. _"Laguna, man, are you alright?" Ward asked with a small pause for chewing.

'Squall' lowered the glass back on the table and pushed a lock of black hair out of his left eye. "I'm fine. I just feel like someone's watching me, you know?"

Kiros waved his concerns off. "You're tripping on survivor's guilt, my friend. Drink some more whiskey and relax; life is beautiful, after all."

Ward laughed. "And so is Julia, right Laguna?"

Kiros chuckled in response and Squall saw his host giving Ward the finger. "Fuck off, Ward! It was supposed to be a secret you'd take to the grave, remember? I only told you because I thought we were gonna die!"

Kiros slapped Laguna on the arm with the back of his palm. "Oh grow up will you? With your pace, _you _aregoing to be the one taking the supposed secret to the grave. And trust me when I say no pretty Julia will be crying over your grave!" This procured another fit of laughter from Laguna's teammates as the goofy soldier started knocking on wood.

After Laguna's seething stopped, Ward pointed at him with his fork and spoke up. "Speaking of Julia, there she comes." A quick glance over his shoulder showed Laguna that Ward was actually pointing behind him, over to the bar-restaurant's piano. Julia was indeed pretty; she was tall and elegant, and her womanly curves were covered with a fitting, dark red dress that showed off her back, over which ran her black hair. As she sat behind the piano, she nodded at some of the people she probably recognized, who had started clapping and whooping.

"So, Laguna; after that close meeting with Death, do you plan on going for it tonight?" Kiros asked, which drew Laguna's gaze (and Squall's, respectively) back to the trio's table.

"No man, I can't! She's working after all."

"Oh come on. She's bound to have noticed us, being regular and such. At least go wave at her."

"Give me a break," Laguna moaned, "I'm too embarrassed to even try."

Ward chuckled and nodded to the waitress for a refill of his drink. "So you say now, but you know that you _will _go up to her."

"You two are going to keep at it, right?" Both Kiros and Ward nodded. "Fine, fine." Laguna responded, faking defeat. "I'm going." He got up from the booth, took a deep breath and, turning on his heel, moved towards Julia, whose music seemed to cheer the entire room. Laguna gulped heavily; he had just noticed that many of the room's occupants were watching at him. Some of the waiters who knew of his little crush gathered up and started trading wads of gil between each other, obviously betting on something he'd do.

_Focus, Laguna. _Squall heard the soldier repeat those words in his head. All there was to him now was Julia, beautiful Julia, and her piano. All he heard was her music. He took in her every feature, from the way her fingers tapped the piano's keys, to the way her chest rose at every breath, to how her brown eyes were closed in concentration.

_Wow, _Laguna thought, _she sure is pretty. Ah, to be this close to Julia… _

If Squall had a palm, he'd hit his forehead with it. He needed to get to Sector Seven, not watch this moron stalk this Julia person.

As if Squall's frustration had pulsated through his every being, Laguna's pace faltered. A sudden pain rushed through his leg, wracking it up with agony. _Oh no! I got nervous! My leg cramped… _He wanted to hold his knee and do the exercises a doctor he had once visited had taught him, but the sheer idea of even trying that in front of all those men and women watching him was even worse than the pain he felt. He stumbled up to the piano and looked at her, startled with the sudden thought that she was looking right at him. He tried to focus on her eyes, as opposed to a bit lower, right behind her neck, and drove all the ideas of her cleavage out of his mind.

He gulped heavily once more, and then blurted out. "Hi. Nice performance."

Julia beamed at him, making his heart skip a beat. "Thank you." She did a double take as she saw Laguna turn his back at her and limp away hurriedly, back to the two comrades of his.

_I'm an idiot. _Laguna wanted to kill himself, especially as he saw the smiles and heard the snickers coming from the tables around him. He slid back into his booth, where he faced his friends.

"Good job, Laguna! Mission successful!" The moment Ward uttered those wards, Kiros started laughing, bringing his hands in front of his mouth in a futile attempt to stop. Ward merely smiled as he patted Laguna's shoulder. "A shame you didn't have the balls to stay there a little more, though…" Ward whispered in playful banter.

"Screw you." Laguna said. "I was so close, it was painful! She's illegally pretty, you know."

"Yeah, I'm sure she is. Speaking of which, Kiros should also move! He should go see his pretty, uh, cello lady. Right Kiros?" Ward said, poking his friend at the ribs. Kiros looked at Ward, and then followed the gigantic man's gaze, and he too gasped.

"Yeah, yeah I should. Laguna, we're taking off."

"Hey, what's the rush? What happened, guys?" Laguna asked, curious.

"Whatever you take is on us, Laguna. Enjoy yourself, mate." Kiros said, giving him a smile and a wink before he approached a waitress, Ward following with a fast pace.

"What the…?" Laguna asked rhetorically. He turned to look over the booth, to find Julia standing right next to him, smiling.

"Hi!" She meekly offered, waving with her hand.

"Aaaaa!" Was the first thing to come out of Laguna's mouth, startled as he was. Then, realizing what a fool he was making of himself, he shut his mouth and casually waved back. He cleared his throat and pointed where Kiros was sitting moments ago. "Um, want to take a seat?"

"Thank you." Julia replied, taking a seat right next to him. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Laguna gulped heavily. "N-not at all." He stammered. _It's her! It's really HER! What do I do? What do I say? Help me, guys! Ah, damn, I'm cramping up! No! It can't happen now! Julia's with me! Real and beautiful, she's right next to me! _

"How's your leg? I saw you limping away." Julia asked.

"My l-leg? Oh, my leg!" Laguna yelped. "I-it's fine. It cramps up when I get nervous, you know."

"You were nervous?" Julia asked, surprised.

"Yeah. I, uh, still am, to tell you the truth."

"Relax then," Julia said, reaching for his shoulder, and causing the exact opposite effect of her request. "You don't have to get nervous around me, you know. I don't bite."

Laguna had the decency to blush at the mental image. "Sorry, I-I can't help it."

"That's okay. Say, this place is getting crowded. Feel like coming upstairs to my room?"

"Your room?!" Laguna exclaimed tactlessly, before turning around to see the eavesdroppers around them.

Julia's laughter rang next to him. "Yes, my room. It's too difficult to listen here, you know? Everyone and everyone's mum is listening in." Laguna's quick glance around the restaurant proved exactly that. "Well, do you want to come by? I've wanted to talk to you."

"Uh, sure?" Julia laughed again as she saw the look at Laguna's eyes.

"No hanky-panky, by the way, despite the fact that I'm not going to correct what the others believe. I just want to talk to you. Is that okay?"

"Of course!" Laguna nodded with fervor.

Julia smiled. "Okay, go to the reception and ask for my room. I'll tell them to let you up." As she walked away, her dress shifting to accommodate her thighs, she called back. "Don't leave me hanging!"

The moment she disappeared from sight, Laguna let out a big "whoop!" and pumped his fist in the air. _Although, _he thought, _I'll have to be careful. When I drop my guard I tend to talk about myself too much. _"Not tonight! I'll be all ears for Julia."

--

"Thanks for coming." Julia greeted. "Please, come in."

Laguna did so, proving to Squall that he was in a five-star hotel. Julia's suite was absolutely great. A gigantic bed, an actual bar, sofas and armchairs adorned the room. From a window that took over more than half the wall, one could enjoy the lights of Midgar, as well as the occasional star. "Thanks," Laguna offered as he waited awkwardly in the middle of the suite, "uh, for inviting me."

She waved him off. "Please, take a seat." Julia offered to the anxious man, who rushed to comply. Under her amused gaze, Laguna sat at the bed, then immediately rose and moved to sit on the couch, from where he rushed to take his place on the armchair formally. "You're really nervous. I wonder why's that?" the piano player asked.

"I…" Laguna's throat was sore, so he coughed into his hand. "I am a big fan of yours, so…"

"Ah. So that's why you come to listen to me so often?" Julia asked with a playful glint in her eyes.

Laguna felt like he had sank into the comfortable armchair. "You saw me?" He asked incredulously.

"You were always smiling when listening. I remember because of your eyes. They're beautiful eyes, no matter how nervous they seem now." Julia said, smiling. In response to Laguna paling a little bit, she let out a guffaw. "Don't worry! I don't plan to eat them! I just want to talk to you while I look into your eyes…" Perhaps using her feminine wit, Julia headed to the bar. "I'll make you a drink first, though. I don't think I'll enjoy your stuttering."

Laguna brought his hands to his face. "I must be dreaming…" He whispered.

* * *

A few hours passed. Laguna had not stopped talking to the ever-listening Julia.

"Yeah, I don't like fighting too much, but I get to travel a lot, you know? See new places. And it's quite fun, because Ward and Kiros are always with me." A small pause, where he filled his and Julia's glass with wine, and then his face brightened up. "You, me and the lads should all go out drinking sometime! What do you say?"

She shrugged with a tired smile etched on her lips. "I guess we could."

"That's great!" Another pause. "Where was I? Oh yeah, as I was saying, I want to quit the Shinra and become a journalist, so I can tell to the people about all the places I've been on during my travels. Going around with no care in the world is so much more than all the fighting!" Laguna chuckled and downed his just-refilled glass. "So, the other day, one of my articles made the reader's column! Pretty cool, huh?"

"I'm happy for you." Julia replied, sounding honest.

Laguna grinned. "Oh yeah, and then…" This time Laguna's pause was longer, and Julia picked up.

"What is it?"

"Sorry." Laguna offered meekly. "I talk too much, don't I?"

"It's okay." Julia replied with a renewed smile, so much more intoxicating than wine. "I can tell that you are a good man. You are different."

"I am?"

"Yes. So many men in Midgar are fools, but you, you aren't like them at all. You speak from your heart, and that, if you ask me, is the greatest thing one can have."

"So," Laguna said after a moment, "tell me about you. Like, I don't know, your dreams for the future?"

She looked out of the window, thought obscuring her joyous expression from moments ago. "I," she began, then trailed off for an instant before resuming. "I want to sing. Not just to play the piano, but to sing."

"Really?" Laguna asked. "I'd love to hear it."

"But, I can't," Julia responded, looking back at Laguna. "I'm no good at writing lyrics. But, thanks to you, I think I can come up with something."

Laguna gasped and almost let the glass in his hand drop. "Thanks to me?"

"Yes," Julia replied, smiling as she crossed the distance to him. "The many faces you've shown me, times when you were hurt, worried… or felt pain deep inside you." She stopped in front of Laguna. "Your smile, your face, your eyes… You've shown me something special. I think I can come up with a song now."

"Wow," Laguna whispered at what Julia had said. He shook his head in denial. "This must be a dream." Julia took one of his hands in hers, and then squeezed it.

"Its not a dream is it?" she asked. Laguna looked at Julia, looked deep into her brown eyes. He opened his mouth to thank her for the honor and tell her how much he appreciated being the inspiration she so needed, when a sudden, sharp rap on the door got their attention.

"Laguna!" Kiros shouted from the other side of the door. "Hey, man, we got new orders! Meet by the Presidential Palace on the double!"

"Can we meet again?" Julia asked after Kiros stepped away from the door, to Laguna's emphatic nodding.

"Of course!" he said. "I have to come hear you sing!"

* * *

Squall awoke with a startle right as Watts crashed on the windshield of the car he, Rinoa and Ellone were driving. In the background, shooting and screaming echoed over Sector Seven. He was laid on the back seat of the car, and it was Rinoa's short scream of terror that had snapped him awake. His mind cleared at the task at hand, his purpose was obsolete.

The pillar was about to fall and crash hundreds of people, all thanks to a sole man's megalomania.

The ex-SeeD was going to remedy that.


End file.
